APPG Digest: Supporting Entrepreneurs

NB. The self-employment concerns raised here were made prior to the Chancellor’s latest announcement.

This will be a different format to our usual email. We are addressing it directly to Members of Parliament, but I hope it's useful for Peers and the thousands of others who are signed up for it.

It is designed to help you point entrepreneurs in your constituency in the right direction, and update you on what the challenges are on the ground.

Five Steps Entrepreneurs Can Take
 
There is so much information out there that I want to keep it as simple as possible. The government is asking us to direct business owners to this website and this one too. I would also suggest you point entrepreneurs towards the British Business Bank website for details of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and specific information for businesses and employers in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

This is what the Government is suggesting, which we are passing on:

1. Get help with your finances
For small and medium sized businesses, the new Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme is now available for applications. For more information and how to apply, visit this website. You can also speak to your bank or lender to discuss options. The Bank of England’s new lending facility for larger firms is also open for applications. Find out more on their website.

2. See what you're entitled to
The government is also making cash grants and additional funding available to certain sectors and smaller businesses. Find out more about the schemes available, whether you’re eligible and how to apply on this website.

3. Support your staff
Through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Government will pay salaries (at 80% of current pay up to £2,500 a month) for workers who are no longer working and would otherwise be made redundant. For businesses with fewer than 250 employees, the cost of providing 2 weeks of COVID-19 related statutory sick pay per employee will be refunded by the Government in full. Find out more on this website.

4. Check guidance on tax
If you are concerned about paying your tax you can talk to HMRC about managing payments. We have already postponed upcoming VAT payments through to June, cancelled business rates for many sectors and delayed July’s self-assessment tax payments until January 2021. To find out more visit this website.

5. Follow the latest advice
The Gov website will be updated regularly as more information becomes available. The Prime Minister’s daily press conference, live streamed on the @10DowningStreet Twitter feed, will also provide the latest updates on health advice, support for businesses and employees, as well as a range of other issues.

Useful Business Hubs

Business organisations are working hard and collaboratively at this critical time. Many entrepreneurs find them vital for explaining how the dramatic changes taking place will impact their business.

For our part, we are keeping people through our Policy Updates, which can be signed up for here, as well as my Friday Newsle. But there many other organisations are better placed to update specific businesses. I would direct business owners to the following organisations:

This is just the tip of the iceberg and there will be sector-specific organisations that might be better placed to help individual businesses; however, this should be a good place to start.

Business owners on Twitter might also want to follow this Twitter List, which might help filter out some of noise if they want timely information about what is being announced.

Challenges for Entrepreneurs

There is still a lot of work to be done. Following are some of the key challenges still faced by business owners:

An Update from IPSE
"In the last two weeks, millions of self-employed people have seen their income decimated, their projects indefinitely postponed and their contracts cancelled. Many we have spoken to say they have savings to last out up to two months of income interruption, but little more. We hope that the Chancellor will deliver a package of support that will keep our smallest businesses afloat during this crisis. This should give a time-limited, targeted cash injection to the freelance businesses that are struggling most. It is a significant ask, but it is what is needed to keep this vital sector going through these grave and unprecedented times."

An Update from Enterprise Nation
"The topic of questions in our support hub changed over the weeks; it started with questions on insurance cover and now mainly has moved to how to access money and how to furlough employees. There has been criticism of the CBILS in that it's not available to loss-making businesses and guarantees are being asked for. In response we submitted a paper to Treasury Select Committee on Monday with suggested proposals of how to distribute funds to small businesses and the self-employed through existing platforms and networks. That's available to view here."

An Update for the Federation of Small Business
"Cash flow continues to be vital for FSB members in the wake of this crisis. In addition, we’ve been urging the Government to bring parity of support to the self-employed in terms of wage coverage, in line with the Job Retention Scheme package for employees. We hope to see something in this area announced by the Government shortly. The challenge now moves towards ease of access and ensuring businesses can access cash and facilities like CBILS in a timely manner; as well as making sure all banks understand the immediacy of the situation and lend. We also note the cash grant facility is to be done at local authority level and are subsequently concerned about variation in delivery. Other challenges we are looking to address include securing further protections for tenants, mitigating the supply disruption and asking large businesses to pay their invoices now to ensure cash is available immediately for SMEs in this critical period."

An Update from Coadec
"Liquidity and cash flow have been consistently at the top of the list of concerns raised by startup founders over the last couple of weeks. We have had confirmation from lenders on the CBILS scheme that venture-backed startups will not qualify for loans under the scheme. We've been urging the Government to adopt an equity-based solution in order to provide bridging finance and capital to startups during this crisis. Since private funding is set to slow down, it is also vital that payments from public schemes - such as InnovateUK grants and R&D tax credits - are fast tracked. To protect the wider tech startup ecosystem, we are also urging the Chancellor to extend the one year business rates holiday, provided to hospitality businesses, to co-working spaces. Due to huge declines in membership and companies cutting costs to survive, this vital community resource is now at risk."

I can only echo the above concerns. At The Entrepreneurs Network, we set out what we think is missing here. It draws on the findings of many organisations and the flood of emails we're getting every day.

I hope this is useful. Please feel free to put any business owners directly to touch with me if they still have questions. I'm replying to everyone.

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