Winter Economy Plan
On Thursday 24 September, the Chancellor announced the Winter Economy Plan – the next phase of our planned economic response to coronavirus, following the Prime Minister’s address to the nation.
Support for workers
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A new employment scheme – the Job Support Scheme
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Under the scheme the Government will contribute towards the wages of employees who are working fewer than normal hours due to decreased demand.
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The scheme will run for 6 months starting 1 November
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To be eligible employees work a minimum of 33% of their hours
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For remaining hours not worked, the Government and employer pay 1/3 wages each
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So employees working 33% of their hours will receive at least 77% of their pay
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Anyone who as of yesterday is employed is eligible
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Employers retaining furloughed staff on shorter hours can claim both the Jobs Support Scheme and the Jobs Retention Bonus
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This gives businesses who face depressed winter demand the option of keeping employees in a job on shorter hours rather than making them redundant
Greater support for businesses’ cash flow
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Greater flexibility for repaying loans through the new ‘Pay As You Grow’ scheme
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All borrowers will now have the option to repay their Bounce Back Loans over a longer time period by extending the term of BBLs to ten years
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This will reduce their average monthly repayments by almost half
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The deadline for new loan applications has been extended until the end of November - this covers:
- the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
- the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme
- the Future Fund
- Bounce Back Loans -
We will work with businesses and lenders to introduce a new loan guarantee scheme from January 2021
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Extending the temporary VAT cut for tourism and hospitality until the end of March 2021
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Deferring repayments of VAT to support businesses during this period, launching a new scheme to allow businesses who want extra time to pay back the VAT they owe in smaller equal monthly payments, interest-free, until the end of March 2022
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More time for self-assessment businesses to pay back - around 1.5 million businesses who pay through income tax self-assessment benefitted from the Self-Assessment Tax Deferral, deferring until to the end of January 2021.
To help them further, the Time To Pay service has been upgraded so that all 11 million self-assessment taxpayers will be able to create a 12-month payment arrangement for up to £30,000 each, and extended till the end of January 2022.
Self Employment Income Support Scheme Grant
- the Government is continuing its support for millions of self-employed individuals by extending the Self Employment Income Support Scheme Grant (SEISS)
- The extension will provide two grants and will last for six months, from November 2020 to April 2021
- Grants will be paid in two lump sum instalments each covering a three month period
- The first grant will cover 3 months’ worth of profits from the start of November until the end of January. It will be worth 20% of average monthly profits and will capped at £1,875 in total.
- An additional second grant, which may be adjusted to respond to changing circumstances, will be available for self-employed individuals to cover the period from February 2021 to the end of April
More information about the Winter Economy Plan can be found at here.
My team and I will be available to provide as much support as we can to anyone across Bishop Auckland who needs our help.
As always, if you need any assistance please contact dehenna.davison.mp@parliament.uk
Stay safe. We are in this together.
Dehenna x