News

On Friday 9th October Rishi Sunak has announced an expansion of Job Support Scheme. Additional support will be available to UK businesses forced to shut by Covid-19 restrictions and will begin on 1st November. This scheme will be available for 6 months with a review point in January.

• This scheme will cover businesses that, as a result of restrictions set by one or more of the four governments in the UK, are legally required to close their premises.
• Under the scheme, employees will need to be furloughed for a minimum of seven consecutive days at any given time and the payments to employers will be made monthly in arrears.
• The government is now making this scheme more generous so that businesses receive up to £3,000 per month, rather than up to £1,500 per three weeks, and they are eligible for payment sooner, after only two weeks of closure rather than three.
• Small businesses with a rateable value of or below £15,000 can now claim £1,300 per month; medium sized businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000 can claim £2,000 per month; and larger businesses can claim £3,000.
• The government is also extending the scheme to include businesses which have been forced to close on a national rather than a local basis.
• Further guidance on the scheme will be set out by HMRC in due course.

Events industry was not exclusively mentioned, however since conferences, exhibitions and other larger audience events have not been permitted to restart and most event venues have been shut since 23rd March, hopefully this support will be available for all businesses in events industry.