The following two initiatives have opened this morning for applications:

• the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme portal is now open, Click here for access to the portal. HMRC has advised that payments will be processed in 6 working days.
• the £25,000 Retail, Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Grant has now opened for applications. The Department has also published a list of 40 businesses who will be eligible for the grant. Click here for further detail and to submit an application.

New support announced to protect firms driving innovation in the UK

In addition, this morning the Chancellor announced a new £1.25 billion coronavirus package to protect firms driving innovation in UK. The package includes:

• £500 million loan scheme for high-growth firms, called the Future Fund
  • The scheme will be delivered in partnership with the British Business Bank and launched in May.
  • The fund will provide UK-based companies with between £125,000 and £5 million from the government, with private investors at least matching the government commitment.
  • These loans will automatically convert into equity on the company’s next qualifying funding round, or at the end of the loan if they are not repaid.
  • To be eligible, a business must be an unlisted UK registered company that has previously raised at least £250,000 in equity investment from third party investors in the last five years.
    Further detail is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/future-fund
• £750 million of targeted support for small and medium sized businesses focusing on research and development.
  • The support will be available through Innovate UK’s grants and loan scheme.
  • Innovate UK, the national innovation agency, will accelerate up to £200 million of grant and loan payments for its 2,500 existing Innovate UK customers on an opt-in basis.
  • An extra £550 million will also be made available to increase support for existing customers and £175,000 of support will be offered to around 1,200 firms not currently in receipt of Innovate UK funding.
  • The first payments will be made by mid-May.

Department for the Economy – advisory list of priority sectors

On Friday, the Department for the Economy published guidance on making workplaces safer and the list of priority sectors, workers and businesses during the current crisis. The list was drawn up by a forum of representatives from business, trade unions, councils, government, the Health and Safety Executive NI, Public Health Agency and Food Standards Agency. The department has advised that the list was published for “advisory purposes” to allow companies to make their own decisions. The information is available here Click here