Blogs/Vlogs

Covid-19: Our summary of the Chancellor’s latest announcements

24 March 2020

With the whole of England now essentially in ‘lockdown’ from midnight on Monday 23 March, the raft of measures being announced by the government to support the economy are now needed more than ever.

On Friday 20 March, Rishi Sunak announced further updates and extensions to the first business and individual support proposals set out earlier in the week. In what Sunak described as “the most unprecedented economic intervention in the history of the British State”, a new Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was introduced, which will look to see any employer eligible for a grant to pay 80% of the gross pay, up to a maximum of £2,500 per employee per month, for any employees who are ‘furloughed’ as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

There were also extensions to the interest free period of the previously announced business interruption loan scheme, and a deferment of VAT payments for the next quarter. But there was little to appease the swathes of self-employed workers across the country who are now fearing the coming months with little to no income and it is widely anticipated that the government will be making further announcements in this area over the coming days/weeks.

Download our summary of the Chancellor’s most recent announcements in PDF format.

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