Apply for Welsh Government business support

The Welsh Government has announced a new Economic Resilience Fund. It will provide extra support to the Welsh economy, businesses and charities experiencing a sharp drop in trading due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Fund aims to plug the gaps in the support schemes already announced by the UK government. These include the Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, which will guarantee 80% of people’s wages and income.

The new £500 million Welsh fund will support firms of all sizes including social enterprises. The focus will be on those which have not already benefited from the coronavirus grants already announced by Welsh Government.

Regarding different sizes of business, there:

• are grants of £10,000 for micro-businesses employing up to nine people, which includes sole traders employing staff
• are grants of up to £100,000 for small and medium sized firms with between 10 and 249 employees
• is support for larger Welsh companies, which are of critical social or economic importance to Wales

Find out now, if your business is eligible for support from the new Economic Resilience Fund.

The Welsh Government’s new £500m Economic Resilience Fund will provide additional financial support during the coronavirus pandemic and will help organisations to manage cash flow pressures. It will help to address gaps not met by schemes already announced by the UK Government, Welsh Government and Development Bank of Wales.

The fund is now live for applications via the Business Wales website and will be available to firms who pass the eligibility criteria and is designed to help those businesses, charities and social enterprises who are struggling with cash flow problems.

Apply online and find out the full details on the eligibility criteria for the new Economic Resilience Fund.

A new temporary Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme has been launched. It covers a variety of different products such as loans, overdraft, invoice finance and asset finance. Launched on 23 March, the British Business Bank delivers it. It is to support primarily small and medium sized businesses to access bank lending and overdrafts.

The government will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on each loan to give them further confidence in continuing to provide finance to SMEs. This is subject to a per-lender cap on claims. The government will not charge businesses or banks for this guarantee, and the Scheme will support loans of up to £5 million in value. Businesses can access the first 12 months of that finance interest free, as government will cover the first 12 months of interest payments.

Further details can be found on the British Business Bank’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme page.

The Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan Scheme is now open for applications.

Key details:

• Businesses can borrow between £2,000 and £50,000.
• The government will guarantee 100% of the loan and there won’t be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months.
• Loan terms will be up to 6 years.
• The government will work with lenders to agree a low rate of interest for the remaining period of the loan.
• The scheme will be delivered through a network of accredited lenders

Details on how to apply are here: https://bit.ly/BounceBackLoanApply

Yes. Yet due to the unprecedented volumes of applications, the Development Bank of Wales is now fully subscribed for the Covid-19 Wales Business Loan Scheme.

For information purposes, the following are details of the scheme. The Welsh Government and the Development Bank of Wales announced the £100m Covid-19 Wales Business Loan Scheme to support businesses affected by the outbreak. The Scheme was available from the Development Bank of Wales for a limited period. It is intended to provide support to businesses experiencing cashflow difficulties due to the pandemic.

The loan scheme will work alongside the UK-wide Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, other Welsh Government and UK Government support offers. It provides more vital options for Welsh businesses. Loans of between £5,000 and £250,000 were available to businesses who:

• have been trading longer than two years
• could show they were able to service that level of debt before the outbreak

Fund details:

• £100m fund
• loans between £5,000 to £250,000, maximum loan levels apply
• 12 month capital and interest repayment holiday
• no arrangement or monitoring fees
• 2% interest fixed for six years (includes the 12 month holiday)

Details of the fund, eligibility and application process can be found on the Development Bank of Wales’s website.

Yes. Business Wales have launched a brand new series of webinars providing advice to SMEs across the country affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Sign up to the webinars on the Business Wales website.

Question – the fishing industry has been hit especially hard as exports and domestic markets have shut due to the public health crisis, is there any funding available?

Answer – a new grant to support fishing businesses during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has been announced by the Welsh Government, follow this link to find out more about the application process on the Gov website.

The Arts Council of Wales has announced an Arts Resilience Fund for artists and cultural organisations to support them through the Covid-19 crisis.

The council have an online Business Impact form located at the bottom of this page.

The Department for Work and Pensions have provided further information about the changes the Government has brought in to support people who are already claiming benefits, need to claim benefits, or are at risk of losing their job as a result of Coronavirus.

There is free access to online training on the Government's website. The Skills Toolkit is made up of free online courses, tools and resources to help improve digital and numeracy skills. Find out more here - Skills Toolkit