Further Coronavirus boost for Welsh businesses

02 April 2020

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR BUSINESSES BASED IN WALES

Ken Skates, the Welsh Assembly Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, has announced a further package of support for Welsh businesses – a £500 million Economic Resilience Fund will support businesses forced to temporarily cease trading (i.e. to go into “hibernation”) or which need cash-flow support to adapt to a remote way of working.

This is in addition to the £1.4 billion announced by the Welsh Government to support businesses dealing with the coronavirus impact in the form of rate relief schemes and business grants.

The new £500m Fund has two elements:

• A £100m Covid-19 Wales Business Loan Scheme Fund administered by the Development Bank of Wales* will be available for companies who are experiencing cash flow problems as a result of the pandemic. The Fund is accessible to all Wales-based SMEs who have been trading 2 years or longer, including sole traders, partnerships, limited companies as well as social enterprises, and the terms on offer are very favourable:
• Loans between £5,000 to £250,000, with the maximum loan level per business being the higher of:
• £10,000 per full-time equivalent employee (a full-time equivalent is calculated at 37 hours per week), or
• 25% of your last year’s turnover
• 12-month capital and interest repayment holiday
• No arrangement or monitoring fees
• 2% interest fixed for 6 years (includes the 12 month holiday)
• Partially secured lending depending on the size of the loan – security taken will be a 20% personal guarantee to a maximum of £25,000 for all investments and for amounts over £100,000, a debenture will also apply

Applications are open now here: https://developmentbank.wales/user/login

*This Fund is in addition to the 3-month capital and monitoring fee repayment holiday available for existing Development Bank of Wales customers

• A £400m Economic Resilience Fund providing:
• Grants of £10,000 for micro-businesses employing up to nine people. This includes sole traders employing staff. Qualifying businesses will be able to apply by mid-April.
• Grants of up to £100,000 for small and medium sized firms with between 10 and 249 employees. Qualifying businesses will be able to apply by mid-April.
• Support for larger Welsh companies, which are of critical social or economic importance to Wales. This element will be open to qualifying businesses within the next two weeks.

Details of the application process and eligibility are being finalised by Welsh Government and we will advise when further information is announced.