The Chancellor outlined additional government support for businesses and workers impacted by coronavirus across the UK. Key features include:

• A Job Support Scheme: introduced from 1 November to protect viable jobs in businesses who are facing lower demand over the winter months due to coronavirus. The scheme will run for six months and will be open to businesses across the UK even if they have not previously used the furlough scheme. It is designed to sit alongside the Jobs Retention Bonus.

• Extension of the Self Employment Income Support Scheme Grant (SEISS). An initial taxable grant provided to those who are currently eligible for SEISS and are continuing to actively trade but face reduced demand due to coronavirus.

• Tax cuts and deferrals: extension of the temporary 15% VAT cut for the tourism and hospitality sectors to the end of March 2021. And businesses who deferred their VAT bills will be given more breathing space through the New Payment Scheme, which provides the option to pay back in smaller instalments.

• An additional 12-month extension from HMRC on the “Time to Pay” self-service facility, meaning payments deferred from July 2020, and those due in January 2021, will now not need to be paid until January 2022.

• A new Pay as You Grow flexible repayment system, to provide flexibility for firms repaying a Bounce Back Loan.

HMT intends also to give Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme lenders the ability to extend the length of loans from a maximum of six years to ten years. And the Chancellor also announced that he would be extending applications for the government’s coronavirus loan schemes until the end of November.

More information can be found at: https://bit.ly/2HkU18e. A tweet from HMT about the package can be seen at: https://bit.ly/3054HhW.

A page outlining what has changed, with links to further advice on social distancing and a FAQs page that you may find helpful can be found at: https://bit.ly/3kHXvQG