The response to the virus crisis has in many ways been an essay in world government. The World Health Organisation has stood at the top of the decision tree on how to handle this crisis, acting as a source of information, a clearing house for the ideas of   those seeking to understand and tackle it, and a strong influence and guide on governments on what to do.

Most governments worldwide have followed the main precepts of the WHO advice. There have been attempts by some in the media and some in various governments to differentiate, yet the remarkable thing is just how similar responses are. The differences are largely ones of timing, subject to differing timetables dictated by the rate of spread of the virus to different locations from other hotspots or disease centres.

Most have begun with efforts to track and trace, with testing, to try to contain the spread via the isolation of early cases and their contacts. Most lost that battle and went on to the second phase, total lockdown of all but food, healthcare and some other essentials.

Now there are issues over how much success a country needs to record before it starts some relaxation of controls, and what the dangers are of a second wave or flare up in the virus if relaxation occurs.

President Trump is very critical of the WTO . He thinks they were too tolerant of China who failed to notify early or to let in WHO experts at  the beginning. He also seems impatient with their approach to treatment and medical analysis, turning  to a range of US specialist companies and experts to try to get earlier breakthroughs in treatments and prevention. He also points out that in his view the USA carries a disproportionately high burden of paying for the Organisation.

Do you think the WTO has done a good job so far? Has it given best advice?  How does the mantra of more and more testing work once the disease is well spread throughout a nation? How often does an individual have to be retested for the system based on tests to work?

Further to our recent correspondence, I have now received the enclosed update on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme:

Dear Sir John,

This afternoon, the Chancellor has announced some important changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Further details on the changes, plus updated guidance on other areas of HMRC support is below. Please do share these messages with your constituents.

Additional HMRC support during coronavirus 

Furlough Scheme Cut-Off Date Extended to 19 March  

Thousands more employees will be able to receive support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme after the Chancellor extended the eligibility date to 19 March 2020. Individuals originally had to be employed on February 28 2020.

Under the scheme, employers can claim a grant covering 80% of the wages for a furloughed employee, subject to a cap of £2,500 a month.

But following a review of the delivery system and to ensure the scheme helps as many people as possible, new guidance published today has confirmed the eligibility date has been extended to March 19 2020 – the day before the scheme was announced.

Employers can claim for furloughed employees that were employed and on their PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020. This means that the employee must have been notified to HMRC through the RTI system on or before 19 March 2020.

The change is expected to benefit over 200,000 people.

HMRC has been working at pace to be ready to deliver the scheme, which is due to be fully operational next week.

Updated guidance for employers is available on GOV.UK

Updated guidance for employees is also available on GOV.UK

Self-employment Income Support Scheme 

Thank you for continuing to share the guidance for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS):

How to claim a grant through the coronavirus Self-employment Income Support Scheme

How HMRC works out total income and trading profits for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme

We have recently updated the guidance to provide clarifications to some queries we’ve received, including:

• detail of the treatment of losses, averaging and multiple trades
• clarifications on the calculation of self-employed profits and what is meant by total income
• confirmation that individuals are able to continue working, including taking on employment role
• confirmation that owner-managers of Ltd companies can access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for their salary
• confirmation that individuals can access Universal Credit and the SEISS
• clarification on overlaps between the SEISS and CJRS (for example, you can claim the SEISS and continue working).

We would greatly appreciate your help in sharing this update as widely and as quickly as possible. 

Benefits and Tax Credits

Benefits and Tax Credit payment increases came into effect on the 6 April. Individual payment dates will vary. Customers don’t have to take any action – they will receive increased payment by 18 May. More information is available on GOV.UK.

This year, HMRC will automatically renew all tax credits claims apart from those identified as high risk. This means that around 3.9 million customers will have their claim auto renewed. These customers will receive an auto renewal pack and they will only need to contact us if their details differ from the pack.

We will need more information from 150,000 customers and they will be sent a ‘reply required renewal pack’ and will be expected to complete it in the normal way.

If any of your constituents are currently a tax credit claimant, and they claim Universal Credit, their tax credit award will be closed from the day before their Universal Credit claim is made. Once they have made a Universal Credit claim it is not possible for them to go back to tax credits.

More guidance is available on GOV.UK.

Coronavirus scammers target taxpayers

Fraudsters are continuing to take advantage of the package of measures announced by the Government to support people and businesses affected by coronavirus.

HMRC has detected more than 40 coronavirus-related financial scams to date, most by text message.

We have asked Internet Service Providers to take down more than 60 web addresses associated with these scam campaigns.

HMRC’s advice:

Stop:

• Take a moment to think before parting with your information or money.
• Genuine organisations like banks and HMRC will never contact you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, password or bank details, or to withdraw money or transfer it to a different account.
• Don’t give out private information, reply to text messages, download attachments or click on links in texts or emails you weren’t expecting.

Challenge:

• Could it be fake? It’s ok to reject, refuse or ignore any requests. Only criminals will try to rush or panic you.
• Check GOV.UK for information on how to recognise genuine HMRC contact and how to avoid and report scams.
• If you think you have received an HMRC-related phishing/bogus email or text message, you can check it against examples published on GOV.UK.

Protect:

• Use the latest software, apps and operating systems on your phone, tablet or laptop. Update these regularly or set your devices to automatically update so you don’t have to worry.
• Forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and texts to 60599.
• Contact your bank immediately if you think you’ve fallen victim to a scam, and report it to Action Fraud.

Business Support Campaign

Thank you for your support in sharing our business support advice in recent weeks. We have now moved our Coronavirus Business Support site onto GOV.UK and this content will be used in campaign material from now on.

The original Business Support website will continue to remain available in the short term, but we would be very grateful if you could point your members to our new site to ensure they have the very latest information.  

HM Revenue & Customs

Let’s say a big thank you to all the volunteers. Many are willing to give their time and energy to helping the elderly and vulnerable during this period of lock down. WBC and various charities are directing their efforts.

As we all adapt to life at home, so the way we do things changes. Many more people buy items on line and grow use to not visiting shops other than the main  supermarkets for food. Many conduct business meetings on line through web based meetings. People turn to on line services. Families learn to talk to each other through video links.

It is boom time for  services like Zoom, Webex and the download  home entertainment providers. Suppliers of laptops and smart phones I am told have plenty of demand as families extend their range of equipment to conduct life digitally, and as firms provide employees with the kit to work from home.  Our domestic broadband capacity is being tested with much more use.

So today I am asking you to write in and tell me how you have changed your lives to live with the stay at home guidance. Which new services or activities have you found most helpful? Have you acquired any new hardware to help? What things are you now doing on line which you used to do by going out to a gym or sporting event or meeting or party?

I would also be interested in how you think people will react when we do start to see the relaxation of the lock down. Will many of you stay with more on line shopping and digital entertainment, or will you be back to shops and the events as soon as they re-open? Will your attitude to public transport be different all the time the virus lurks without  cure or vaccine?

How much damage to personal incomes has this all done so far, and what impact will that have on people’s capacity to spend again when there are more businesses able to sell us goods and services?

Once we start the relaxations of the lock down, new patterns of trade and business are likely to emerge.

There will be more suspicion of reliance on imports, given the disruption to international trade and travel we have experienced. More people are likely to want local food and products, and more businesses will take some travel risk out of their supply chains.

There will be more concerns about Chinese technology and our dependence on a lot of Chinese manufactures, given the history of the virus and the rows over Chinese involvement in 5G programmes.

There will also  be a governmental  wish to promote overseas trade again after the  big decline, with a more balanced range of counterparties. People will remember which companies and countries were most helpful during the period of virus need.

It is good to hear that the EU/UK trade talks will resume this week by teleconference. I trust the government will also pick up the pace again with the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. These are all important partners, with an enthusiasm to improve trade terms mutually once we are out of the EU customs union.

With governments wanting to promote more trade and with more customers concerned about overseas sourcing, the stage is set for better deals to act as inducements. The better deals will come from the friendlier countries, which in turn will be the more reliable trade partners.