

Get Ready
At some stage in the not too distant future the government are going to lift some of the restrictions imposed on businesses at the start of the pandemic. Are you prepared for it? Some restrictions will stay in place or be modified. Only allowing a small number of people into shops at any one time... Keeping those people separated from each other. Perhaps restricted opening times. There are other things you should also be looking at. Your customers will expect you to provide

Around the World Lockdowns
News from Italy that their lockdown, imposed seven weeks ago, is set to be partially relaxed with people being allowed to visit relatives in the same region in small numbers. Parks, factories and building sites will reopen but schools will be closed until after summer. Many non food shops will open from 18th May. Hairdressers and restaurants are expected to re open from 1st June. Switzerland and Spain are also relaxing their measures but with strict limitations. Germany has


Closure Regulations 2020
There have been suggestions of some businesses considering partially re opening in spite of Government instructions to remain closed until further notice. The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Business Closure) ( England) Regulations 2020 state that all non essential businesses MUST follow the rules or face a prohibition order and fines. Failure to comply could result in a fine of up to £5000 for a first offence and enforced closure and a fine of up to £100,000 for any subsequ


EXIT STRATEGY
Our Chairman, Peter Coulson, has posted a number of extremely well researched and extensive posts on various media to help our trade understand the financial, health and business aspects of COVID-19. The information supplied by Peter goes far and above ( for us) what we have been told by the popular media. If you have a query then please refer to these posts which can be found mainly on the Cutting Edge and SoMSR FaceBook pages and on shoerepairer.info. If you have a pr


New Updates on Small Business Support
There are important changes to the scheme relating to employees, for more information please visit GOV.UK The online claim service will be launched on 20th April - NOT BEFORE Only ONLINE CLAIMS will be allowed Claims will be paid within 6 working days Only EMPLOYERS can request information re claims In order to claim you will need the following A Government GATEWAY ID and PASSWORD ( If you haven't already got one you can apply online) Be enrolled for PAYE online Have correct


SMALL BUSINESS SUPPORT UPDATE
The latest version of the support package for small businesses has been revealed; Essentially the banks have been instructed not to ask for personal guarantees on loans of up to £250,000 on the Business Interruption Loan Scheme. For full details go to : https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19 Other aspects have also been fine tuned as the situation develops.