Weekly Digest – 10 June 2020

Welcome back to our Weekly Digest. We hope you and your family are safe and doing well. Read on for this week’s update.

Government-backed Loans and Grants

The Government is giving small- and medium-sized businesses access to financial support through various initiatives such as the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), where you can get up to £50,000 no-interest loans for the first 12 months, and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, which offers a maximum loan of £5 million made available through commercial banks.

To cover the impact of the crisis, there are also grants made available by the government such as the £1.25bn-worth Future Fund and R&D rescue package for fast growth businesses and smaller businesses with a Research & Development focus, as well as the Small Business Grant Fund, which is a one-off grant of £10,000 that supports small businesses that pay little or no business rates as a result of small business rate relief (SBBR), rural rate relief (RRR), and tapered relief.

If you’re unsure which option is suitable for your business, contact us today and let us help you evaluate your options.

Bounce Back With a New Business Plan

While some business owners can already see the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, it’s hard to tell how your business will recover and perform when we enter the new normal. It’s best to prepare and put a solid business plan in place for the months ahead, especially for those businesses that have been severely hit by the pandemic.

We know that writing a new business plan might be the last thing on your mind right now, as you are trying to keep your business afloat. However, every successful business invests time and effort on business planning. To make it easier for you to create a new one that factors in the risks and implications of the pandemic, we’ve created a FREE downloadable business plan template. Please get in touch if you’d like to talk about your plan – especially the financial parts like cashflow.

Reopening the Economy

As the government is slowly opening up the economy and looking at ways to ease restrictions without compromising public health, it is best to proceed with caution. Here are some useful guidelines to reopening for various industries:

Credit Control Amid COVID-19

Many businesses are experiencing cashflow strain at the moment. Fortunately, there are some tips that may help in some way:

  • Identify who still owes you money and how much.
  • Send your invoices promptly.
  • Check sent invoices for overdue ones and chase those that owe you money, offering a reasonable arrangement for periodic payments.
  • Offer discounts for early payments.
  • Consider invoice discounting if suitable.

What’s next?

Over the last few weeks we’ve brought you updates on various government initiatives and cash flow schemes aimed at helping employers keep their businesses afloat amid the COVID-19 situation. We’ll keep you updated on new financial support available and if anything changes on existing ones, but please feel free to get in touch to discuss what these schemes mean for your business.

Get in touch

Contact us if you have any questions or want to discuss your next steps for your business.

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