Rishi Sunak announces further business support measures

The Chancellor has just unveiled a number of new measures aimed at supporting businesses and their employees effected by COVID-19 as part of the Government’s Winter Economy Plan. These key measures include: 

• A new Job Support Scheme starting in November which will see the government topping-up the wages of workers covering up to a third of their hours for the next six months
• Self-employed support – the government will also be extending the existing self-employed grant on similar terms and conditions as the new Job Support Scheme
• Delaying the planned increase in VAT for hospitality and tourism businesses which will remain at 5% until 31st March 2021
• Allowing businesses to spread their VAT bill over 11 repayments with no interest to pay
• Those who self-assess their income can also now extend their outstanding tax bill over 12 months from January 2021
• Introducing a new ‘Pay as you Grow’ scheme will give those businesses more time and greater flexibility to repay their bounce back loans

Read the full statement here: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/winter-economic-plan

• Government news story 'Chancellor outlines Winter Economy Plan': https://bit.ly/32YPOiX
• Full Winter Economy Plan document: https://bit.ly/3crleBL
• Text from the Chancellor's speech to Parliament: https://bit.ly/3hZUrOf