Two quick updates...

1.  Job RetentionScheme (Furloughing Staff Members)

Further guidance has been issued by the government here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#claim

Please take the time to read (5 min read) and familiarise yourself with the rules which have been expanded on for certain specific situations.

As ever, if you would like to talk this through with a member of our team, please do get in touch.

In addition, the latest guidance is that each employer will need a PAYE online account to claim money back under this scheme. We have not been able to get a clear answer from HMRC that we will be able to use our Agent authority to make these claims for you (although we expect that to be the case)

To make sure there are no delays to your claims, the team spent much of yesterday registering PAYE online accounts for all clients.  It is possible that activation codes will be posted to you.  If you receive any, please email them to your contact at Azure immediately.

Again, any questions, please just ask us.


2. Business Grants

It has been our understanding that all councils would write to businesses that are eligible for this grant.  However, the approach appears to be different depending on which council operates your business rates.

So, we advise going to the council website, armed with the last business rates bill, and completing an application.

Link to Epsom and Ewell for example is here: https://www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk/business/business-rates/business-grants-2020-21

Applications will clearly be processed in order of receipt, so we recommend making this application as soon as possible.

Please do get in touch if you need assistance with this application.


Best wishes

Andy and the team at Azure