Roads: Freight

(asked on 4th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of business rates on the financial sustainability of haulage companies during the covid-19 pandemic.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 13th May 2020

The Government has provided enhanced support to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in England through business rates relief given the direct and acute impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors.

A range of further measures to support all businesses, including those not eligible for the business rates holiday, such as haulage companies, has also been made available. For example, the Government has launched the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help firms keep people in employment, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank backed by an 80% Government guarantee, and is deferring VAT payments for this quarter.

The Government is monitoring the sectoral impacts of COVID-19, and keeps all support under review.

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