Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to continue to support SMEs experiencing a slow recovery as covid-19 restrictions are eased.

Throughout the pandemic, the Government has sought to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods in businesses across the UK.

The Government put in place an economic package of support totalling £352 billion through the furlough and self-employed income support schemes, support for businesses through grants and loans, business rates and VAT relief.

At the Budget, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a generous extension of economic support to reflect the easing of restrictions and enable the private sector to bounce back as quickly as possible. Most of our schemes do not end until September or after, in order to provide continuity and certainty for businesses.

The Recovery Loan scheme which launched on 6 April 2021 will ensure UK businesses of any size, including small businesses can continue to access loans and other kinds of finance up to £10million per business as they grow and recover from the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme is open until 31 December 2021, subject to review.

At Budget, it was also announced that Local Authorities in England will receive a top-up worth a total of £425m to the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) fund. This, combined with the £1.6 billion previously allocated, means that Local Authorities will have received over £2bn in discretionary grant funding, to support businesses which are experiencing severe impact due to public health restrictions.

In order to aid businesses and employees through the next stage of the pandemic, at the Budget the Government extended the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for a further five months from May until the end of September 2021, when the CJRS will close. Furloughed workers in the UK will continue to receive generous support as the CJRS ensures employees receive 80 per cent of their current salary for hours not worked, up to £2,500 per month. From November 2020 to the end of June 2021, employers were only required to pay NICs and pension contributions. As the economy reopens and demand returns, the Government is asking employers to make a small additional contribution, of 10 per cent towards the cost of paying for unworked hours, from July. As the economy reopens further, this employer contribution will increase to 20 per cent in August and September.

In line with the extension to the CJRS, the Government announced at Budget 2021 that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue until September, with a fourth and a final fifth grant. This provides certainty to business as the economy reopens and means the SEISS will continue to be one of the most generous schemes for the self-employed in the world.

In order to further support small businesses to prosper after Covid, and improve their growth, productivity and resilience, the Government is introducing the £520m Help to Grow programme. Announced at Spring Budget, the Help to Grow programmes will support UK small businesses scale and grow as they recover from the pandemic. Help to Grow: Management will provide intensive leadership and management skills support to 30,000 small businesses. Help to Grow: Digital could support 100,000 small businesses with online advice and a voucher for software costs.