Today Rishi Sunak announced plans to help recover the UKs economy as well as measures to protect jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Winter Economy Plan includes:

• Job Support Scheme – to replace the furlough scheme which comes to an end on 31 October, the Government will support the wages of people in SME’s who are facing lower demand over the winter months due to the pandemic
• Extending the Self Employment Income Support Scheme Grant (SEISS) – for self-employed workers who are facing reduced demand due to coronavirus
• Pay as you grow –repayment system will be introduced to help companies repay state-backed business loans as they begin to recover
• Government loan extensions – loans terms being extended to 10 years, interest only payments can be made and businesses in ‘real trouble’ can suspend payments
• Extension of application deadlines – for CBILS and Bounce Back loans to November 2020
• VAT for the hospitality and tourism sector – will remain at 5% until March 31 2021
• Spreading the cost of tax bills – businesses will be able to spread their VAT bill over 11 separate repayments whilst self-assessment tax bills can be spread over 12 months