“Today’s budget has been rightly been focussed on Coronavirus and trying to mitigate the potential impact on the UK economy and businesses. It tries to allay the fears many have about the future of the UK economy. I have spoken to lots businesses who are very worried about how Coronavirus will affect them and the uncertainty it brings. They will welcome the announcements made by the Government. One of the big measures being the Government stating they will pay the statutory sick pay (SSP) for two weeks, for those off with coronavirus for businesses with less than 250 employees. This will be helpful for many businesses worrying about the potential financial impact of Coronavirus. Another positive announcement is that business rates have been abolished for certain businesses for one year where the rateable value is less than £51,000. However a long awaited announcement is the review of the business rate system later in the year, this will hopefully address the inequalities many high street / premises based businesses face. One loser in the budget is Entrepreneurs relief, which has seen the lifetime allowance being slashed to £1m, which may affect future business investment.”
Lindsay Farrer, Partner at Saint & Co
