Keeping your business open
With the exception of some non-essential shops and public venues, we are not asking any other businesses to close – indeed it is important for business to carry on.
However, you should encourage your employees to work from home unless it is impossible for them to do so.
Sometimes this will not be possible, as not everyone can work from home. Certain jobs require people to travel to their place of work – for instance if they operate machinery, work in construction or manufacturing, or are delivering front line services.
See the full guidance on work.
Many UK SME businesses are misunderstanding what the government instruction is… relating to COVID 19
All companies can carry on working, and the direction is that people should not breach social distancing. So Retailers, Pubs, Restaurants and Businesses that necessitate people to meet, Theatres, Clubs etcetera, should not open.
Remember that deliving your food or product to the customer is not only OK, in many ways for businesses it’s A unique opertunity. First you learn who and where your customers reside and secondly the delivery person, drives afficency as the customer will be available to receive the order.
You can, however, trade if you can protect the public, your customers and perhaps most importantly, your employees.
Consider social distancing, don’t have teams travelling in the same vehicle. If you can work from home, do so, so clerical duties can continue.
However, all of this will quickly become irrelevant if two things don’t happen.
If the government assistance for any staff furloughed for periods of three weeks delay money getting to the business directly. The banks are once again seeing Covid 19 crisis like the 2008 crisis as a chance to force limited business directors into unwise personal Guarantees.
Or supply chains stop as businesses hold on to money, and use the confusion or panic to delay paying their suppliers in their 30, 60 days terms.
A lot of reporting is currently misleading: Deaths with Covid 19, is not the same as dieing of Civid 019.
Do not take the above as any comment on the serious personal responsability we all face to play our part in stoping the spread of the virus but do read this below before we all start to Panic.
SME Business In the UK 