Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Businesses and Employers Bulletin 4 June 2020

Please find below, the latest Businesses and Employers Bulletin from Government. This includes:

• Guidance on the new quarantine restrictions for travellers entering the UK. With limited exceptions, travellers will be required to self-isolate for 14 days after entering the country.
• Trade Credit Insurance, which provides essential cover to hundreds of thousands of business-to-business transactions, will receive up to £10 billion of government guarantees.
• A reminder that the final date by which an employer can furlough an employee for the first time will be 10 June 2020, or they will not be eligible for furlough thereafter.

CONTENTS

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) and entering or returning to the UK
• Trade Credit Insurance backed by £10 billion guarantee
• New Updates and Guidance
  
• Requests for Business Intelligence and Assistance
  

Coronavirus (COVID-19) and entering or returning to the UK
From 8 June, there will be new rules in place for entering the UK because of coronavirus (COVID-19). The rules are for residents and visitors. When these rules are in place, you will:

• need to provide your journey and contact details when you travel to the UK
• not be allowed to leave the place you’re staying for the first 14 days you’re in the UK except in very limited situations (known as ‘self-isolating’).

You do not need to complete the form or self-isolate if you’re travelling from Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, and you were there for 14 days or more.

Some travellers, including some specific workers, will be exempt from new English border rules. These workers may need to show a letter from their company or the company they are coming to work for at the border. More details are available here. Similar rules may apply across Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Trade Credit Insurance backed by £10 billion guarantee
Trade Credit Insurance, which provides essential cover to hundreds of thousands of business-to-business transactions, will receive up to £10 billion of government guarantees.

• The Trade Credit Reinsurance scheme, which has been agreed following extensive discussions with the insurance sector, will see the vast majority of Trade Credit Insurance coverage maintained across the UK.
• The guarantees will support supply chains and help businesses during the coronavirus pandemic to trade with confidence, safe in the knowledge that they will be protected if a customer defaults or delays on payment.
• The scheme is available on a temporary basis for nine months, backdated to 1 April 2020, and available insurers operating in the UK market.

Please see further information here.

New Updates and Guidance
Coming to the UK for seasonal agricultural work on English farms
Advice for seasonal agricultural workers coming to England to work on farms and their employers has been published. The rules on self-isolation for seasonal workers are different from those for other international travellers to the UK because of the importance of the work for food supply. If you’re coming to England to work on a farm, you and your employer must follow this guidance. Find out more here.

Rural Payments Agency   
Rural Payments Agency have rural payments, grants and services available including: Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and the Basic Payment Scheme with a closing date of 15 June. Details on how to submit applications, claims and supporting documents during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, can be found here.

3D printing (additive manufacturing) of medical devices or component parts during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
The requirements on manufacturing 3D printing will depend on whether the item is classed as a medical device or personal protective equipment (PPE). There has been an increased number of enquiries about the use of 3D printing to manufacture medical devices and personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus pandemic. Find out more here.

Final date for the furlough scheme
The final date by which an employer can furlough an employee for the first time will be 10 June 2020, in order for the current three-week furlough period to be completed by 30 June 2020.  Employers will have until 31 July to make any claims in respect of the period to 30 June.  Further details can be found here.

Requests for Business Intelligence and Assistance

Offer coronavirus support
Tell us how your business might be able to help with the response to coronavirus by using our online service

Share the impact coronavirus is having on your organisation 
Let us know how the outbreak is impacting your business.  Please send your intelligence to intel@beis.gov.uk. Commercially sensitive information will be treated accordingly.  Please note that this inbox is only for receiving intelligence and does not provide business advice

Help us shine a light on the stories of key workers 
Tell us about key workers you know that are helping to keep the UK moving during the Coronavirus pandemic. Please fill in this online form for key workers in the following sectors: manufacturing, construction, consumer goods, scientists/researchers, servicing, postal workers, and  oil/gas/electricity/water/sewage/chemical workers.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy