Coronavirus measures: the business community reacts to Wednesday's announcements

In yesterday’s press conference (March 18) the Prime Minister announced the closure of schools across the country.

Boris Johnson said that some children will still go to school, including children of ‘key workers’ and vulnerable children.

In the House of Commons yesterday, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced an extension of business disruption loans for SMEs with a turnover up to £41m.

He also said that the government will support for all employers of fewer than 250 employees to reclaim up to two weeks’ statutory sick pay paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19.

Additionally, the “smallest 700,000 business” (those currently eligible for either small business rate relief or rural rate relief) will be able to access cash-grants of up to £10k.

Businesses across the UK reacted to the announcements.

BCC, Hannah Essex

“Businesses will want to do the right thing as parents and carers are affected by school closures.

“Firms are introducing flexible working arrangements wherever possible to support employees with caring responsibilities, but cash flow issues mean many businesses are having to make impossible choices.

“Government should clarify the definition of ‘key workers’ to ensure it is doing everything possible to support both the economy and those who need to care for others.

“Ministers need to move faster to ensure financial support reaches businesses and employees facing the real-world impacts of this pandemic.”

Jane van Zyl, Working Families

“Many working parents and carers with young children are already working from home, as recommended by the government.

“Now that schools are closed, they find themselves needing to juggle work with looking after their children - including supporting their learning - at home.

“Employers should continue to pay parents and carers as usual while they are working from home.

“It’s important that the government provides support to employers that can’t afford to continue to pay staff who are unable to work from home.

“This includes small employers that cannot afford to absorb any fall in productivity due to the parents and carers they employ having to work from home whilst looking after their children.

“Particular attention should be paid to supporting parents and carers in insecure work, including the self-employed, as they are most at risk of not being paid.

“For parents and carers who aren’t being paid by their employer or are self-employed and can’t work because schools have closed, it’s crucial that the social security system adapts so they continue to receive, at a minimum, pay for their hours worked at national minimum wage replacement levels.

“For the self-employed and those working irregular hours, this should be based on how much they work on average.”

Wayne Daley, Children’s Services at Northumberland County Council

“This is an action taken across the world and with neighbours in Europe. Clearly this will cause many parents concern over childcare arrangements, and I want to put out an appeal to local employers to do everything they can to help parents with flexibility over childcare arrangements in the coming weeks.

“We’ve been working for many weeks with our school leaders to ensure their existing online learning platforms are running.

“And we’re doing everything we can, along with our partners, to make sure that our most vulnerable young people can access food during any closures. I have made it clear that I will provide additional funding to make this happen if it is needed.

“I am also very conscious that many of the 38,000 young people in education in the county will have parents who are ‘key workers’ such as those in transport, health, social work and uniformed services.

“I know these key workers need to be at work so they can support us all. I have therefore asked that we look at all opportunities to work with employers and child care settings, to see how we can facilitate a viable childcare offer for these essential workers.

“I have also made a commitment for additional resources into our Youth Service if they need extra support to work with young people during this period.”

Glyn Edwards, MHA MacIntyre Hudson

“Many hotels, restaurants and car dealerships will have taken upfront payments for intended sales which will not now take place, as customers back out due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“Currently HMRC’s policy is that a supplier must account for VAT on all payments received for a supply, even if it does not take place. This also applies to any admin fees charged by a supplier to a customer who backs out.

“This policy is very recent and should be reversed given the current situation.

“A temporary suspension of the requirement to account for VAT on payments for unfulfilled supplies would prevent business from being hit twice: once with the loss of a sale and secondly having to account for VAT on what is usually just a small proportion of the expected sales income.

“Retained payments and deposits were largely outside the scope of VAT up until 1 March 2019.

“For example, a car dealer who accounted for VAT at the time of receiving a customer deposit could reverse this VAT if the customer cancelled the order and the dealer retained the deposit.

“The change in policy was prompted by the outcome of an Air France case in the EU courts, and the timing is very unfortunate for businesses.

“Exempting businesses from VAT on retained payments and deposits would simply be a return to what was, until recently, HMRC’s long-standing policy.”