Coronavirus

OFFICE OPENING HOURS

The office is closed. We are operating as usual under the new Covid-19 restrictions. The office will be open for dropping records in, by appointment only Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10am and 3pm

In view of the governments recent announcement we will not be opening everyday to clients. We will open at specific times to enable clients to drop off their records. We ask that you email in requests to enable us to support you at this difficult time. We have ensured that our staff are able to work from home. Please keep looking at the website, your emails or the portal for information and updates.

 Due to covid we have decided that the toilets are for staff only. We apologies for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

Click on the below links to view PDF documents relating to Covid-19

Coronavirus Scams

Small Business, Retail, Hospitality & Leisure Grant Fund Guidance

Renting: guidance for landlords, tenants and local authorities

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme

Job Retention Scheme - Furloughed

Financial Assistance - Business Rates holiday 

Financial Assistance – Loans

Business Support Guide (updated 07.04.2020)

Navigating the Crisis 03.06.20

Click this link to open news re personal accounts from Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert

Central Bedfordshire Coronavirus discretionary business support grants

Coronavirus Business Support 23.07.20

Autumn Business Support 12.10.20

Autumn Business Support Updated 26.10.20

COVID 19 Update.

At Higginson & Co we are doing everything we can to ensure that our service to you is not interrupted by the global crisis of COVID 19. We are following government advice along with additional measures. We are taking these measures to ensure the safety of our staff and of our clients. If you have any of the symptoms of this virus, we would ask that you do follow advice and self-isolate. We are investigating what help if any may be available to support business and will advise as soon as we have this information. We are however available to talk should you wish to discuss any matters.

Following the government’s response to Covid-19 pandemic we have put together, below, a summary of the announcements to date.

Covid-19 – Emergency measures announced

In the last few days, the Government has made major announcements about help for small businesses and individuals affected by coronavirus. Below is a summary of the significant points, although details are awaited as to how some of these schemes may be accessed.

The following measures were announced in the Budget and have not (to date) been updated.

• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to be paid from the first day of absence, not the fourth, where people have the virus or have to self-isolate, or care for such people.
• Support through Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance for self-employed people and others not entitled to SSP.
• Full funding of the cost of two weeks’ SSP for small and medium-sized employers whose workers have claimed SSP as a result of coronavirus.
• Businesses and self-employed individuals in financial distress will be able to negotiate ‘time to pay’ arrangements with HMRC without incurring late payment penalties.

At a press conference on Tuesday 17 March, the following additional measures were announced.

• Any business that needs access to cash to pay their rent, salaries, suppliers, or to purchase stock, will be able to access a government-backed loan on "attractive terms" (which have not yet been specified).
• That support will be delivered to small and medium businesses via the new Business Interruption Loan Scheme (announced at the Budget), which will now provide loans of up to £5 million, with no interest due for the first six months.
• The scheme will be up and running by the start of next week.
• Retail, hospitality and leisure sectors
• All businesses (not just those with a rateable value of less than £51,000, as previously announced), will pay no business rates for 2020/21.  
• Those businesses with a rateable value below £51,000 will also be eligible for an additional cash grant of up to £25,000 (i.e. cash payment from the government) per business, to help them through this period.
• This means that every single shop, pub, theatre, music venue, restaurant , etc. will pay no business rates whatsoever for 12 months and, if they have a rateable value of less than £51,000, they can now get a cash grant as well.
• The 700,000 or so small businesses that are already eligible for 100% business rates relief will receive a grant of  £10,000 (not £3,000, as previously announced) to help with business costs.

For those individuals in difficulty due to coronavirus, mortgage lenders will offer at least a three-month mortgage holiday, so that people will not have to pay a penny towards their mortgage while they get back on their feet.

Separately, speaking in Parliament on Tuesday evening, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay said: “The government is postponing the reforms to the off-payroll working rules, IR35, from 6 April 2020 to 6 April 2021.”

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, intends to come forward with proposals next week to help those unable to work due to coronavirus. In some other countries, such support has included the government paying a large proportion (sometimes over 75%) of the person's normal salary or self-employed earnings for several weeks. We await to see if the UK will go down a similar route.