On 17 March, HM Treasury issued an announcement on ways to support UK businesses through the disruption of COVID-19.
The Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) was put in place on 23 March by HM Treasury and the Bank of England lending facility to provide quick and cost-effective cash-flow to companies who need it as a result of disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.
CCFF will provide funding to businesses by purchasing a short-term corporate debt which is known as a commercial paper (CP). This will provide maturity of one week to twelve months and will be issued if the company has a credit rating of A-3 / P-3 / F-3 / R3 by one of the following: Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch and DBRS. For further information on credit ratings, please consult the
Bank of England website.
Speaking of CCFF, Markel Tax’s head of funding, Simon Day, said: “The Covid Corporate Financing Facility (‘CCFF’) is now open. It offers liquidity support to larger firms helping them manage disruption to their cash flows through the purchase of short-term debt (minimum £1million from each participant) in the form of commercial paper”
What about support for SMEs?
For small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), the new Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) has been introduced by the British Business Bank. The CBILS will financially support SMEs through more than 40 accredited lenders across the UK.
To be eligible, your business must:
- be UK-based in its business activity
- have an annual turnover of no more than £45 million
- have a borrowing proposal which the lender:
- would consider viable, were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic
- believes will enable you to trade out of any short-term to medium-term difficulty
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has issued more than £330 billion worth of loans to help companies continue to function in these uncertain times. The Government has vowed to keep to its promises and has committed to do everything it can to support businesses to manage their cash-flow during the COVID-19 outbreak.
For further information about funding, or any other tax incentives and reliefs, please contact
Simon Day or call
0333 920 5708.
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