Coronavirus business news update 9th April 2020.
9th April 2020.
James Salmon, Operations Director.
During the Coronavirus outbreak we will continue to share (as we can) the business news stories we have seen that we think will affect our members and readers. The news stories you might have missed that might have an impact on SMEs and those that sell on credit.
Emergency bank lending increases, but criticisms remain
The Treasury yesterday announced that 2,500 loans for business had been approved via the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS), up from the 2,022 figure revealed on Monday.
UK Finance will soon start to publish regular updates on the scheme, the government added.
UK banks have now lent £453m through the CBILS, but many businesses are complaining of a slow response from banks.
Mike Cherry, national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “We’re hearing reports that – despite these being ’emergency’ loans – the application process for securing them is still very demanding. Of course lending can only be made to viable businesses, but banks need to understand that time is of the essence.”
Employers warned by HMRC on furloughing staff
HMRC is urging workers to report their employers if they are still being asked to work after being furloughed.
Chief executive Jim Harra stated: “Employees must be completely furloughed by their employer, that means they should not engage in any work for that employer whilst they are on furlough.”
He explained that firms who break the rules “will not be entitled to furlough payments, so if we know that in advance obviously we wouldn’t pay them,” continuing: “Otherwise, afterwards we would seek to recover the money from them and depending on the nature of the behaviour, if it amounted to knowingly trying to defraud us then we would take criminal action against employers.”
MPs call for loan charge deferral
The Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) is calling on the government to defer the loan charge for a year because people facing it may be unable to access support for self-employed people during the coronavirus pandemic.
The MPs point out that the financial assistance offered is only available to those who have already submitted (or who can now quickly finalise and submit) their 2018/19 tax return by April 23, but people facing the loan charge have been told that their tax return does not need to be finalised until September 30, 2020.
Government Finance
The UK Government is set to borrow billions of pounds from its emergency Bank of England overdraft to finance the fight against Covid-19. It will borrow from the Bank’s “ways and means” facility in April to help workers and businesses. The government has not used the facility since the financial crisis.
Calls to NatWest for financial support rise 700%
NatWest’s call centres are receiving 25,000 calls a day on various financial assistance programmes – a rise of 730 percent – as firms apply in multiple numbers for emergency loans
Rics urges stamp duty holiday
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) is urging the government to introduce an emergency stamp duty holiday to help revitalise the housing market after it came to a standstill as the COVID-19 crisis gripped the nation.
Hew Edgar, of Rics, said: “The Government will need to start considering medium and long-term measures that could assist a post-pandemic housing market. As we start to emerge from this crisis, however, it is likely that the finances of potential homebuyers will be under strain, and the burden of stamp duty could put buyers off.”
Edgar continues: “For those who can afford to move they may lack confidence in the market, adding to the slowdown. A stamp duty holiday could be one of the ways to reactivate the housing market quickly as a short-term measure.”
Morgan: Bring fintechs in to help administer CBILS
Writing in the Times, Nicky Morgan suggests the UK’s fintech finance providers should be brought in to help get the government’s coronavirus business interruption loans scheme (CBILS) distributed more quickly to small businesses.
Baroness Morgan says fintechs will “operate at speed”, require less paperwork and could well value companies differently. “When the virus crisis is over, fintech will be one of the ways in which the UK is able to retain a leading role in the global financial system. Now would be a good time to demonstrate the sector’s reach and abilities.”
UK start-ups call for changes to virus stimulus package
Some of the UK’s biggest tech start-ups, including Deliveroo and Citymapper, have written to Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, telling him that the government’s coronavirus stimulus package remains inaccessible.
They say they cannot qualify for the corporate finance loans on offer but are too big for small business relief. They call on Mr Sunak to set up a meeting between Treasury officials and the firms to thrash out a way to support them during the coronavirus pandemic.
Eurozone’s two biggest economies sink into historic recessions
Both Germany and France are seeing steep declines in their economies, with the former expected to have shrunk by 10% by June, while French GDP is expected to have fallen by 6% since the beginning of the year.
In the UK, KPMG said output fell 4% in the first quarter and will shrink by another 11% between April and June. Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization has said that global trade is expected to plummet by up to 32% due to the COVID-19 crisis, far faster than the 12% decline seen in 2009.
NMC Health succumbs to administration
NMC Health could enter administration as early as today after the private hospitals company failed to halt an application brought by a major creditor, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, to place it into the insolvency process.
Brexit
UK Chief Brexit Negotiator David Frost will speak with his Brussels counterpart Michel Barnier next week to outline a timetable for trade negotiations.
Frost & Barnier will speak with the aim of setting out dates to carry on negotiations remotely through April & May.
There has been much speculation that the UK’s deadline date to have an EU trade deal completed will be extended past 31 December in light of the coronavirus crisis, although Downing Street has consistently said there would be no change to the deadline.
Do you sell on credit?
With pressures on the cash flow it is essential that you stay on top of the credit limits you grant customers and watch carefully for any late payments.
Those customers will look for the easiest option to boost their cash-flow. Don’t let it be you.
You can’t just assume your customers can and will pay you eventually, no matter how big their name is.
It is essential to have credit management systems in place to monitor and check your customers credit worthiness.
It is also best practice to use a trusted third party like CPA to make sure you are paid on time by customers, no matter how good a name they have.
About CPA
The Credit Protection Association can help!
Formed in 1914, CPA has been providing credit management services to SMEs for over 100 years.
At the Credit Protection Association, we provide first class credit information that can help you avoid being over extended to customers who are at risk. Our monitoring service can flag up warning signs long before the end, giving you the chance to adjust and reduce your exposure. We provide recommended credit limits and credit scores on a traffic light system and can help you set appropriate credit policies for your customers.
We regularly publish lists of the latest insolvencies but by then it is too late. Our credit reports however predict approximately 96% of company insolvencies long before they arrive.
Companies in trouble usually have very bad cash flow and they try to deal with it by delaying payment to their suppliers, increasing your exposure to them.
If you supply on credit, help us help you identify the risks.
Why use a third party collector?
As a third party collector, we can also get your payments prioritised over those who are not as hot on collections. When your customer receives a letter from the Credit Protection Association regarding their outstanding account, they are going to want to get that resolved as a priority. Our overdue account recovery service can get your unpaid invoices to the top of their “to do” list and get your invoice paid.
Over the years we have collected billions in overdue invoices for our customers.
Our debt recovery and credit management services give our members the financial freedom needed to grow and prosper, while our new Late Payment Compensation department could unlock hidden potential and offer the compensation needed to springboard your business to success.
You might be hesitant about contacting a debt collection agency. What are they going to be like?
Can they help your particular type of business?
There is no need for concern. CPA are courteous, helpful and very probably have had direct experience of working with your type of business.
Debt collection agencies are not all alike.
Success lies in both recovering money and keeping customers happy. The Credit Protection Association was founded in 1914 and has helped tens of thousands of UK businesses to collect outstanding payments and reduce the risk of incurring bad debt. We believe that creditors deserve to be paid for the work or goods they have supplied but we fully understand the need to maintain
the best possible relationship with customers!
At The Credit Protection Association, we provide solutions, advice and back-up in all areas relating to the supply of services or goods on account. Client-members receive everything they need from a single source to reduce debtor days and write-offs.
The Credit Protection Association has helped has assisted tens of thousands of UK businesses with their credit control requirements, since the First World War.
We are polite, firm and efficient when it comes to recovering outstanding debt.
“We have used CPA for a number of years now. The website is easy to navigate around with lots of helpful reports. The staff are always at hand and very friendly. CPA has helped us reduce our debt over the years and keep track of potential issues with our customers.”
~ CPA client in Buckinghamshire
“The service from CPA has proved to be everything that you said it would be. We have already seen a huge benefit. We have had a number of overdue accounts paid promptly and directly to us. It is also a huge weight off our mind to know that once we have passed an overdue payment over to you, you take care of everything whilst keeping us informed.
~ Credit Controller client in Warrington
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections
Ready to speak to an advisor?
For help or advice on credit management, entirely without obligation.
Call us today
0330 053 9263
CPA is passionate about late payment
The Credit Protection Association has been protecting smaller firms against poor payment practices for over 100 years.
We are extremely passionate about breaking the late payment culture that holds back the UK economy and threatens many SMEs with cash flow difficulties being the single biggest killer of Britain’s small businesses.
If you were regularly paid late we can help. Those former customers used you to boost their own cashflow, regularly paying you late.
As a result you had extra costs, you had the distraction of having to chase payment, you had opportunity costs because your capital was tied up in their late invoices.
Under little used legislation, you are entitled to compensation for those late payments.
Now you can boost your own cash-flow.
CPA can help unearth the those hidden treasures.
We have the technology to reveal the compensation you are due and we have the extensive experience and expertise to then turn those claims into cash.
Yes, CPA can help you boost your business cash-flow.
Don’t let your bankers control you, contact CPA today.
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections
Do you realise you could be sitting on a fortune?
Late payments often result in a cash flow crunch and leave SMEs in need of a cash injection.
If you sold B2B on credit then there may be a hidden source of capital you can call on.
If you fancy an bit of extra cash in your business, rather than jumping through hoops with your bank, you could look to uncover the resources from an unexpected source within your own business.
Not many are aware but there could be a hidden fortune within your business, sitting there, just waiting to be uncovered and released.
We can help you uncover the pile of gold, you didn’t even know you were sitting on.
If you trade with other businesses and were often paid late then you could be entitled to significant compensation.
Under little known and under-utilised legislation your business could be due huge amounts in compensation that you didn’t even know about.
Let’s be clear – this is not a way to weaken any customer relationships you value. It is one that identifies who’s been paying late and then recover the potentially significant sums in compensation using Late Payment Legislation from businesses where the relationship has already ended.
You can pick and choose who you want us to follow up – but once we’ve agreed which companies you’d like to pursue compensation from it’s a fast process and there’s no financial outlay to you whatsoever. My team at CPA put its expertise to work to recover the compensation due and fight late payment culture.
That compensation could provide the cash boost your business needed.
But don’t delay, that compensation evaporates if not claimed within six years of the late payment.
How can CPA help?
CPA has developed a unique technology to dig into your accounting records and discover the cash injection you are due by means of compensation. The software does all the hard work. Our software interacts over the cloud with over 300 different software packages, working directly with your accounts package, just so long as it’s stored on a computer.
We recognise that most companies do not have the resources to spend time on the identification and calculation of Late Payment Compensation. Our service can produce an Analyses within just a few days with (usually) less than 30 mins of co-operation from our clients. We work directly with over 300 accounting packages but can also work with bespoke accounts packages. Indeed, speed is essential as the oldest invoices may fall foul of the 6-year time limit.
Once the Sales Ledger Analyses is made available to clients, all that is required is that management decide which commercially sensitive ex-customers to remove from the list and return it to us.
CPA then uses its years of collection experience to explain and recover the Late Payment Compensation Claims. Clients do not handle any part of the recovery process as our team will take all communications from the companies against who the claims has been made. Often, it’s simply a case of explaining the legislation, sometimes we have to go all the way and enforce the legislation through the courts.
The result is that we are realising clients’ claims worth tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds which, of course, is pure net profit. You may also be among the recipients of “hundreds of thousands of pounds” should you elect to take advantage of our services.
We do the work, you receive the cash.
If you have supplied goods and services to businesses on credit and were regularly paid late then you could be due significant sums in late payment compensation.
We are talking to companies and unearthing claims in the hundreds of thousands from former business customers who paid them late. Large business customers who abused their power to inflict unfair and sometimes illegal payment practices.
We are helping business owners who are looking to boost the returns from their business before they retire. We are helping businesses who have lost major clients after years of loyal service to get properly compensated for systematic late payment. We are helping companies that were looking to close down, who looked insolvent and finding that cash injection they need to avoid insolvency.
Those former clients who regularly paid you late can finally be made to pay.
Ready to speak to an advisor?
For help or advice on credit management, entirely without obligation.
Call us today
0330 053 9263
The Credit Protection Association is a credit management company established in 1914. If you supply goods or services on credit then we can help you!
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections
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The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections