Today our thoughts and best wishes are with the Prime Minister and his family. It is still early in the crisis to fully assess its scale and scope, but its impact will reshape much that had become accepted wisdom. The  teams at ADS continue to focus on making sure members get the help they need and their concerns are high priorities for Government.

 

We thought it would be helpful to facilitate a conversation directly with the Government, and so for this week’s webinar on Thursday we will be joined by Matt Pye from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Aerospace team. He will be available to answer any questions you may have around the Government’s support measures in response to COVID-19.

 

We have been asking the Government to go further in relation to its Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and on Friday last week, Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered improvements such as extending the scheme to all viable small businesses, limiting personal guarantees to just 20 per cent for loans over £250,000 and banning personal guarantees for all loans under £250,000 under the scheme. In addition to these new measures, the Government has now launched a Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme to enable banks to make loans of up to £25 million, backed 80% by the Government, to firms with an annual turnover of between £45 million and £500 million, which we hope will plug some of the gaps in funding seen by businesses.

We recently asked the Government for further clarity on the details and processes for furloughing workers. Following this request, the Government have announced that employers’ National Insurance and pension contributions will be covered by the Government grant and further clarity around eligibility and what classifies as regular wages has been provided.

We have also been asking the Government for extensions to existing customs authorisations to avoid firms breaching throughput times. Consequently, the Government has issued guidance on the relaxation of import duty/VAT on protective equipment as well as temporary flexibility for authorisations where firms are impacted by COVID-19.

 

We will continue to work closely with you with the Government, and I encourage all members to get in touch to keep us updated on any issues you are facing in this difficult period.

Paul Everitt, Chief Executive, ADS

>> Full bulliten -  ADS - COVID-19 Bulletin - 07 Apr 2020.pdf (315 KB)

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