BUSINESSES Hit By Pandemic Shutdown Can Get Help

HELP is at hand for Inverclyde businesses suffering as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

A raft of grants and schemes, coupled with existing support packages, is available for companies of all sizes that have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent shutdown of many firms.

Inverclyde Council staff and their partners at Business Gateway Inverclyde are on standby pointing people in the right direction to get help, processing funding applications and offering advice.

Support on offer includes one-off grants of £10,000 for small enterprises and £25,000 for firms operating in hospitality, leisure and retail from the Scottish Government Coronavirus Business Support Fund, which is being administered by local authorities.

Assistance is also available for the self-employed and third sector organisations.

Councillor Stephen McCabe, leader of Inverclyde Council, said: “The council, alongside a variety of partners, is working hard in these extremely challenging times to ensure businesses and individuals who are suffering because of the coronavirus emergency access the vital financial help they need.

“Nobody is unaffected by the global Covid-19 pandemic but we’re all in this together and together we will pull through.”

Other help available to businesses includes all UK-wide employers with a PAYE scheme being able to access financial assistance to continue paying part of their employees’ salary, with HMRC reimbursing 80 per cent of wages, up to £2,500 a month.

Companies will automatically receive a VAT deferral from 20 March through until 30 June and a 1.6 per cent Business Rates relief, while a 100 per cent exemption is available for certain types of business, including those in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors.

Firms can also ask for a suspension of pre-payment water charges and a Non-Domestic Rates deferral.

For those who are self-employed, a new Self-Employment Income Support Scheme has been launched and there are also funds set up to support third sector organisations.

For more information, visit the ‘Business’ section of Inverclyde Council’s dedicated coronavirus updates page – www.inverclyde.gov.uk/coronavirus, call the council’s Customer Service Centre on 01475 717171 or phone Business Gateway Inverclyde on 01475 779327.