With what will be welcome news for many, the government have now announced further guidance on the Covid-19 Job Retention Scheme.

Following calls for a system that provided parity to those introduced for employees in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, the Chancellor has this evening announced much-anticipated measures intended to support the self employed workforce.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is now operational.

To conclude what has been a busy day in respect of changing and developing legislation, the Chancellor this evening outlined some of the most radical and unprecedented financial support measures we’ve ever seen in an attempt to mitigate the economic impact of Covid-19.

To follow up one of the points in our update earlier this week, one of the key business support mechanisms announced by the Chancellor involves engagement and pragmatism from HMRC when it comes to payment of taxes over the coming months.

Given the fast-moving nature of emergency legislation and measures being put in place for emergency support and similar, we thought it might be useful to update you on a couple of matters that we’ve covered earlier this week.

A number of clients have contacted us over the recent days for advice and clarity as employers, with common topics including sick pay, obligations with freelance/self-employed workers and staff retention.

Further to our note earlier this week regarding our availability and commitment to you as we deal with these unprecedented and challenging times, following the Chancellor’s recent announcements and other developments we wanted to provide some advice and information that we think might be both relevant and useful.