COVID-19 the numbers

The numbers behind the covid-19 pandemic

The Coronavirus has pushed the world into a downward financial spiral and plagued global societies with financial uncertainty, loss and great sadness. Many international governments and health organisations are doing all they can to not only stop the spread but to also provide support and stability to those also feeling the effects.

Cost to the UK?

For the UK – whilst it is near impossible to predict the total cost of the Coronavirus, The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts that the Coronavirus could cost the UK up to £300bn just for this financial tax year alone. (April 20 – April 21). To put that in perspective this is said to be the biggest slice of the economy since WWII which is not surprising when borrowing figures for April 20 alone are already 6 times higher than they were the same time last year.

Government intervention:

The UK government and HMRC have been responsive in meeting both individual and corporate needs by introducing many new innovative financial schemes & incentives for those that have been adversely affected by the effects of Covid-19, to try and keep the economy and people’s livelihoods afloat.

A few of the main introductions being:

HMRC have allowed for ‘time to pay arrangements’ to be put in place to allow for the delayed payment for various taxes such as VAT, corporation tax, PAYE and income tax to ease cash flow difficulties.

Government backed loan schemes in the form of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS)

The Job Retention/furlough and self-employment income support schemes

SME’s that pay little or no business rates have benefitted from Small Business Rate Relief grants of up to £10,000

The Retail and Hospitality grant scheme has provided many businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with cash grants up to £25,000.

Changes to statutory sick pay legislation have enabled SME’s with fewer than 250 employees to reclaim SSP paid in the absence due to covid-19

Job Retention/Furlough Scheme

One of the most discussed schemes is of course the Job Retention or ‘Furlough’ scheme introduced in April, which pays out 80% of workers salary’s up to £2,500, whilst workers remain in lockdown at home. Whilst this scheme is putting money in the wallets of the pubic, approximately 23% of the workforce were officially put ‘on furlough’ for April 20, equating to around 6.3 million workers.

This has come at an enormous cost to the UK government costing approximately £14 billion in April alone. The scheme has since been extended by the chancellor and will remain active until October later this year.

More numbers…

The Self-employment income support scheme (SEISS), similar to the Job retention scheme, aimed at providing 80% of average monthly trading profits up to a cap of £2,500. This saw 440,000 people apply on the first day of the portal being active, coming at an estimated cost of £1.3 billion.

The banking and finance sector have loaned over £5.5 billion to SME’s via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)

The eagerly anticipated bounce Back loans scheme (BBL) alone attracted over 69,000 applications worth over £2billion in funding in the first 24 hours of the scheme being open

HMRC’s revenue alone from VAT in April was negative, meaning that more money was handed out through repayments than was collected

Since the 16th March, the government have received approximately 2 million universal credit claims

If you are a small business owner who has been adversely affected by Covid-19 and are unsure regarding the funding options available to you – please do not hesitate to get in contact and we would be more than happy to run you through your options.

Contact

Stock Transfers during COVID-19
The end of Furlough
Restarting your VAT in seconds!
SEISS The fifth grant
Flexible Furlough for Directors
Homeworking for self-employed
Homeworking allowance for Directors & Employees

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