Please see below an update from Chancellor Rishi Sunak:
1/ We will support jobs, we will support incomes, we will support businesses, we will help you protect your loved ones. We will do whatever it takes.
Today, I am making available an initial £330bn of guarantees – equivalent to 15% of our GDP. Measures include:
2/ Any business who needs access to cash will be able to access a government-backed loan, on attractive terms.
If demand is greater than the initial £330bn I’m making available today, I will go further and provide as much capacity as required.
3/ To support lending to small and medium sized businesses, I am extending the new Business Interruption Loan Scheme I announced at the Budget last week, so that rather than loans of £1.2m, it will now provide loans of up to £5m, with no interest due for the first six months.
4/ I announced last week that for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, with a rateable value of less than £51,000, they will pay no business rates this year. Today, I provided those businesses with an additional cash grant of up to £25,000 per business.
5/ I am also extending the business rates holiday to all businesses in those sectors, irrespective of rateable value.
6/ That means every single business in the retail, hospitality or leisure sector 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.
7/ I also announced last week that we would be providing £3,000 grants to the 700,000 of our smallest businesses. To support their cash flow, today I can increase those grants to £10,000.
8/ Following discussions with industry, I can announce today that for those in difficulty due to coronavirus, mortgage lenders will offer 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.
9/ In the coming days, I will go much further to support people’s financial security. In particular, I will work with trade unions and businesses to urgently develop new forms of employment support to help protect people’s jobs and incomes through this period.
10/ The measures I have announced today are part of a comprehensive, coordinated and coherent response to what is a serious and evolving economic situation.
These are only the first steps – I will set out the next stage of our response in the coming days.
11/ Read the full text of my speech here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-of-the-exchequer-rishi-sunak-on-covid19-response?fbclid=IwAR1sLU5abn230gNT6qtAXNqRXTIywj3FvubDPR9Ah1QdUPVfwdyHF7Y3_Hs
