INDUSTRY NEWSY NEW


Government announces loan scheme for small businesses


THE Chancellor has announced a simple micro loan scheme with a 100% Government-backed guarantee for small businesses.


The new Bounce Back Loans scheme will offer to up £50,000 to small businesses recovering in the wake of the coronavirus crisis and should reach businesses within days of applying through the short online application.


"Our smallest businesses are the backbone of our economy and play a vital role in their communities," said Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak. "This new rapid loan scheme will help ensure they get the finance they need quickly to help survive this crisis.


"This is in addition to business grants, tax deferrals, and the job retention scheme, which are already helping to support hundreds of thousands of small businesses."


The announcement shows that he has listened to the concerns of local builders who have struggled to access affordable finance during the lockdown, said the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). However, with many small to medium-sized (SME) construction sites still shut, an SME


Support Fund that issues grants, instead of loans, is needed to help builders get back to business once lockdown ends.


Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “The Chancellor has listened to local builders’ concerns about cashflow, raised by the FMB, and brought forward a simple loan scheme for viable firms. This marks a positive step when just 4% of builders were able to acquire credit through previous schemes.”


“Cashflow is currently builders’ biggest headache because many construction sites remain shut. The combined challenges of


accessing scarce materials, working safely in a client’s home, and protecting the health of the construction workforce, has left many firms unable to continue bringing income in.


"An SME Support Fund in England, and Northern Ireland, similar to the ones in Scotland and Wales, is needed to issue grants and ensure that these firms can hit the ground running post-lockdown.


"Builders, and the construction industry, will thrive if they are able to reinvest their profits back into the economy, rather than paying back a loan.”


CITB produces COVID-19 site safety checklists for small businesses


IN partnership with the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), CITB, the industry training board for the construction industry, has produced a series of interactive checklists and forms to help construction employers during the coronavirus crisis.


The aim of the checklists is to make sure that those returning to work understand clearly the CLC’s COVID-19 site operating procedures guidance and how to apply it.


The checklists cover a range of topics including protecting your employees from the COVID-19 virus, how to undertake risk assessments on site, and how to maintain optimum channels of communication between workers and their managers.


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CITB has also announced that, from Monday 18 May, it is re-establishing the Health, Safety and Environment testing operations in England, with the majority of Pearson Professional Centres in the country operational.


However, elsewhere the organisation has been forced to make cuts to weather the lockdown. “After careful consideration, CITB believes that prioritising funding to give employers maximum support during the COVID-19 crisis is the right thing to do in these testing times,” announced Chief Executive Sarah Beale.


“For this reason, our focus in the year ahead will be on direct funding for employers’ immediate skills and training activity, and


support for apprenticeships. This means we need to stop or suspend many of our other funded programmes and projects.


“We are also talking to the Department for Education about options that may be available to reduce this year’s Levy bills.


"Details on the outcome of those discussions, and our funding decisions, will be included in our revised 2020/21 business plan, the Stability Plan, to be published in June.”


The new checklists can be found under the Site Operating Heading on the CITB messages pageHERE.

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