As you are aware, COVID-19 is causing great concern to individuals, families and ALL businesses worldwide. The situation is continually changing and until it settles down, we all face a period of great uncertainty.

On Tuesday 17^th March, Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer on behalf of the Government, announced a series of financial measures, help and support for small businesses and individuals of the United Kingdom.

This was to protect businesses, employees and their suppliers.

For businesses with trading and cashflow difficulties the following help was announced…

1. Cash Grants (speak to your local authorities as it is channelled through them)

• No repayments whatsoever
• Grants up to £10k for small businesses

2. Business Interruption Loan Scheme (available from the British Business Bank from 23rd March)

• Government guaranteed loans of up to £5m to help pay all business costs
• The loans will be at attractive rates
• No interest to pay for the first 6 months

3. Working Capital Support (from your own bank)

• All banks can provide additional working capital support as part of the Government’s £330bn support

4. Business Rates Waived For One Year (this is automatically applied)

• For all business premises with a rateable value of less than £51k

5. HMRC Time to Pay (call 0300 4563565 for assistance)

• Additional time to pay VAT, PAYE and for individuals

6. Mortgage Payment Holidays

• Three months break from paying mortgages

You can find out more about all the support available to businesses here.

We are adhering to the latest guidelines in order to protect our customers and staff, whilst continuing to support all our offerings as normal. These include…

• The hosted iCabbi software
• The DiSC telephone system
• The Target Cloud Telephone System
• Business broadband
• SIP Trunks and phone calls
• Mobile Phone Data SIMs
• PDAs including their collection, repair and return (or exchange)

… and of course, support for all the above Mon-Fri 9-5 with emergency support 24/7/365.

We do believe that the resilience of the British public, together with your business skills and the support available from the Government will get us all through this difficult and unpredictable period.

It won’t last forever, and the best businesses will emerge stronger.

With our best intentions and regards,

Yours faithfully,

Richard Moore
Chief Executive