Last week saw additional and welcome support for small businesses announced by the Chancellor.

The specific measures for the self employed, which the Federation of Small Businesses lobbied hard for, mean that the majority will now be able to access similar financial support to that being made available to their employed counterparts.

That said, the sheer number and variety of businesses and business owners in the country, means that it is near impossible to devise a uniform, deliverable grant scheme that will protect all of them.

That’s why it has been so important that other large-scale support measures have been put in place on issues such as business rates, increased access to Universal Credit, local authority hardship funds, deferred VAT payments and no June self-assessment. In addition, we are pushing the banks to improve their approach to loans, and encouraging every large business to pay every single invoice right now, to get cash into the pockets of small businesses and the self-employed.

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Our aim has been simple – to get as much support as possible, from as many places as possible, as quickly as possible.

With so much at stake and so many momentous decisions being made in very short timescales, the position continues to evolve as more details and guidance about the various support schemes are published by the government.

We are capturing all of this information and making sure it is continuously updated on our Coronavirus hub, which is accessible from our website. We’re also holding webinars to answer questions about what’s available, when and who is eligible.

Many of these schemes are now moving from national announcements into local delivery. As they do so, we will continue to work closely with all of the organisations tasked with getting resources to the front line.

That way, together, we can identify where measures are not operating as intended, we can share and encourage the adoption of best practice and we can identify any gaps in the support being offered.