Coronavirus – Business Support
The team at Destination Chesterfield is keen to keep Chesterfield and North Derbyshire businesses up-to-date on the latest advice, guidance and support regarding the coronavirus outbreak in the UK.
Businesses should remind their staff to follow the current NHS advice – https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
General guidance for businesses on how to deal with the virus
Financial support to businesses
The Government has announced a number to support to businesses as a result of impacts experienced through the Coronavirus.
You can find the latest information here – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses
As one of these measures, the Government is providing grants to small and medium sized businesses, to help them through the Coronavirus period.
- Businesses who are eligible for small business rate relief, and can meet the criteria detailed below, will be entitled to a one-off cash grant of £10,000.
- Businesses who have properties with a rateable value of between £14,999 and £51,000 and can meet the criteria detailed below, will be entitled to a one-off cash grant of £25,000.
Chesterfield Borough Council is identifying local businesses who are possible recipients of these grants and they are keen to pay the grants as soon as the grant funding is received from the Government. They anticipate that this will be received by early April 2020.
To help them to quickly transfer the money to businesses, please download and complete the below form and email it to revenues.billing@chesterfield.gov.uk with a subject title: Business Rates – Coronavirus Grant.
| Business Rates Coronavirus Grant |  (PDF 28 KB) |
If you are unable to email this information, please post it to Business Rates, Customer Service Centre, 85 New Square, Chesterfield S40 1AH
They will then validate and let you know when the transfer has been made.
The financial support measures outlined by central Government include:
- Small business grants of up to £10,000 for all businesses in receipt of small business rate relief, rural rate relief or tapered relief
- 100% business rate relief has been extended to all retail, hospitality and leisure properties (such as cafes, restaurants, bars, theatres, gyms and hotels) for the whole of 2020/21
- Grant funding of up to £25,000 will also be available to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property where the rateable value is between £15,000 and £51,000.
- Business rate relief for nurseries – 100% relief will be paid to all premises occupied by providers on Ofsted’s Early Years Register and wholly or mainly used for the provision of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which are subject to business rates in the year 2020/21
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
The new Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be set up to help pay people’s wages. Employers will be able to contact HMRC for a grant to cover most of the wages of their workforce who remain on payroll but are temporarily not working during the coronavirus outbreak. Any employer in the country- small or large, charitable or non-profit will be eligible for the scheme. Salaries will be paid at 80% of their current level up to a maximum of £2,500. These grants will be available by the end of April.
Universal Credit and tax credits will also be increased as part of an almost £7 billion welfare boost.
To ease cash flow pressures for UK VAT registered businesses, VAT bills from now until the end of June, will be deferred until the end of the tax year.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-announces-workers-support-package
Individuals and businesses claiming Statutory Sick Pay relief
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
Available in the week commencing 23 March 2020. It will be delivered through a range of over 40 accredited lenders and offer attractive terms for both businesses applying for new facilities and lenders, with the aim of supporting the continued provision of finance to UK businesses experiencing increased costs or disruptions to cashflow during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The scheme provides the lender with a government-backed guarantee against the outstanding facility balance, potentially enabling a ‘no’ credit decision from a lender to become a ‘yes’. The Government will cover the first twelve months of interest payments and any facility arrangement fees charged by lenders, so businesses will benefit from no upfront costs and lower initial repayments. The maximum value of a facility provided under the scheme will be £5m. Note that the borrower always remains 100% liable for the debt.
Any business interested in applying to CBILS should talk to their bank or finance provider (not the British Business Bank) as soon as possible and discuss their business plan with them. This will help the finance provider to act quickly once the Scheme has launched.
Coronavirus Business Toolkit
Chesterfield Champions, East Midlands Chamber have created a toolkit for businesses with a number of downloadable templates to use in their organisation
https://www.emc-dnl.co.uk/news/2020/02/24/coronavirus-planning-ahead/
HMRC helpline launched to help businesses concerned about paying their tax
Companies to receive 3-month extension period to file accounts during COVID-19
Businesses will be given an additional 3 months to file accounts with Companies House to help companies avoid penalties as they deal with the impact of COVID-19 – www.gov.uk/government/news/companies-to-receive-3-month-extension-period-to-file-accounts-during-covid-19?
Coronavirus – Mental Health support and information
Mind have information on their website if you are worried about coronavirus and how it could affect your life.
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus-and-your-wellbeing/
COVID-19 Information for Apprentices and Employers of Apprentices
If you are an apprentice or an employer of an Apprentice, we understand that you may have some very specific questions about your apprenticeship or how to support your Apprentice during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Coronavirus (COVID-19): apprenticeship programme response
Local and Regional Guidance and Support
Supporting Local
Campaign by Destination Chesterfield to promote businesses supporting the local community during the Coronavirus.
Businesses can submit information to be included on the page.
Chesterfield Borough Council
https://www.chesterfield.gov.uk/your-council/coronavirus-information-hub.aspx
Tourism Sector Advice
Chesterfield Champion Visit Peak District and Derbyshire have prepared advice, guidance and templates for local businesses in the tourism sector https://www.visitpeakdistrict.com/industry/business-support/useful-links/coronavirus-guidance-and-support.
Charities Aid Foundation Coronavirus Emergency Fund
The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has launched a new Coronavirus Emergency Fund. Through this fund smaller charities, not for profit organisations, social enterprises and unregistered community groups can apply for grants of up to £10,000 to help them to continue to deliver much needed support to within their communities. https://www.chesterfield.co.uk/2020/04/charities-aid-foundation-launches-coronavirus-emergency-fund/
D2N2 Growth Hub
https://www.d2n2growthhub.co.uk/covid-19/
Derbyshire County Council
Read the latest advice from Derbyshire County Council here – https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/social-health/health-and-wellbeing/health-protection/disease-control/coronavirus/coronavirus-covid-19.aspx
Derbyshire Emergency Relief Fund
The Derbyshire County Council Emergency Relief Fund for the county’s smallest businesses is now in place. The Emergency Relief Fund criteria and application form are available online at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/businessgrants. Businesses will need to be registered in Derbyshire, be able to evidence a loss of income as a direct result of the coronavirus outbreak and fulfil the other criteria laid out online in order to apply. The Fund will be open until the 17th April 2020 and has a limited number of grants available.
Information for employers recruiting or making redundancies
This information is for all businesses and employers across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire who are having to make changes to their workforce as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Please follow the advice below to ensure we can support your employees and the labour market during this time.
Recruitment Information
If you are seeking to fill urgent vacancies, short or long term, to meet changes to your business as a result of Covid 19, you can be connected immediately with available individuals.
Please register your vacancies with:
John Blankley Senior Employment Support Adviser Email: John.Blankley@futuresforyou.com Phone: 0115 876 4947 / 07570 671592
Please have the following information available when registering your vacancies: • Nature of work • Number of vacancies (can be approximate) • Necessary or desirable skills requirement • Location of vacancies • Any current recruitment routes being used
Volunteering opportunities can also be registered via the above method
Redundancy Information
If you have already made employees redundant or are about to make small numbers redundant (up to five), please refer those individuals for direct support to:
Email: NationalCareersServiceNCC@futuresforyou.com Phone: 0800 917 94 19
If you are planning to make larger-scale redundancies (five or more) additional support is also available for you as an employer and your employees. In these circumstances, please use the same contact details as above but ensure your contact includes: • Notification of redundancies and scale • Number and job roles affected • Last day of work for affected individuals (if known)
For general guidance and links to further information on redundancy for both employers and employees, please visit: www.gov.uk/guidance/redundancy-help-finding-work-and claiming-benefits
Local News
- Charities Aid Foundation Coronavirus Emergency Fund (03/04/2020)
- Prompt project completion supports NHS at crucial time (02/04/2020)
- Chesterfield manufacturer offers factory, staff and resources in response to national COVID-19 effort (01/04/2020)
- Chesterfield manufacturer shifts production to bespoke face shields (01/04/2020)
- Redeployment Triage Service launched for employees affected by Coronavirus Redundancies (30/03/2020)
- Chancellor gives support to millions of self-employed individuals (26/03/2020)
- Community Response Unit launched to help those in need (26/03/2020)
- Chesterfield Borough Council update on grants and business rate relief process (26/03/2020)
- Coronavirus outbreak: latest Chesterfield Borough Council services update (25/03/20)
- Covid-19 Community Response Unit set up to bring agencies together (25/03/20)
- Meet the Buyer Event Cancelled: But local companies can still benefit from Northern Gateway development (24/03/20)
- Coronavirus outbreak: latest Chesterfield Borough Council services update (24/03/20)
- Coronavirus – Business support to launch from today (23/03/20)
- Derbyshire Emergency Relief Fund for businesses now in place (23/03/20)
- Chatsworth to close garden with immediate effect (22/03/20)
- Coronavirus outbreak: Chesterfield Borough Council services update (19/03/20)
- Changes to council services in Chesterfield (19/03/20)
- Chesterfield Market Traders continue to trade (17/03/20)
- Ashgate Hospicecare takes steps to keep end of life patients safe from coronavirus (13/03/20)
- Derbyshire County Council has set aside £1 million worth of funding to support residents and businesses who may be affected by coronavirus. (13/03/20)
Things are changing all the time and any new information we receive will be added to this page and communicated via our social media channels and our e-marketing activity.
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