Money Matters
GOING LEGAL
LIF E AF TER LO CKD OW N Right now, with business starting up again, there are a number of things you should be considering as a retailer. Michael Cahill of Albert Goodman lists out the key areas for attention
1. Health and safety The wellbeing of your staff and customers will be of paramount importance and when you are allowed to open again, it is likely that certain elements will need to look very different to how they did prelockdown. Business owners should undertake a risk assessment and start to complete any necessary requirements coming out of that so that they are able to be up and running quickly. You may need to change the layout of your premises to enable social distancing, install a one way system on your premises and think about your method of taking payment for example. 2. Cash flow forecasts Prepare a cash flow forecast. I’d
suggest a rolling 13-week cashflow would be sensible at the moment, as well as looking at the position over the next 12 months. For many businesses, managing their cash as they come out of the lockdown will be tougher than going into it. A forecast will give visibility of any points where the business may have insufficient cash available and give the business owner some time to take action in order to overcome this problem. 3. Need cash but don’t want to borrow from the bank The government has provided significant levels of support to businesses in the UK – make sure you have reviewed all of these and accessed what you can. They include: • Grants for some businesses through
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the Small Business Grant Fund and Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Grant Fund and Local Authority Discretionary Grant Funds. • The Job Retention Scheme has allowed businesses to furlough their employees and access funding of up to 80% of the employees wages subject to a cap of £2,500 per month. • For the self employed, support has been made available through the Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) • Deferral of VAT payments due for payments due between 1 April – 30 June (although the deferred amount does need to be paid in full by 31 March 2021) • Deferral of self assessment tax payments on account due by 31 July (the deferred amount must be paid by 31 January) • The ability for business to reclaim up to two weeks of Statutory Sick Pay related to Coronavirus for each affected employee You can also consider what other payments can be deferred – these might include PAYE/NI or corporation tax where a Time To Pay arrangement is agreed with HMRC, a rent deferral /temporary reduction with your landlord’s consent, business rates, and discussing with existing lenders a temporary freeze on repayments. It is important to remember however that any amounts deferred will ultimately have to be paid at a future point if the business is to survive. 4. Schemes available if you need to borrow funds Bounce Bank Loans (BBL) Where any borrowing requirement is less than £50,000 (capped at 25% of turnover) Bounce Back Loans are a great option where the eligibility criteria is met. These can be applied for online, the loan will be over a six-year term, interest is fixed at 2.5%, there are no arrangement fees, no interest in the first year, and no repayments due in Year. Coronavirus Business Interruption
