Covid-19 – Rural Business Update January 2021

England’s third national lockdown started the year off amid a surge in hospital admissions driven by a more contagious variant of Covid-19. Although the vaccine roll-out is picking up pace it could be a while before there is a relaxation in measures.

We explore the latest legislation and how it impacts rural estates for landowners and farmers.

Let Properties

The mortgage holiday for borrowers has been extended yet again, with applications open till 31 March 2021. Lenders have agreed to offer payment holidays of up to six months where needed due to Covid-related hardship. This also includes buy-to-let mortgages.

Those who have not yet had a mortgage payment holiday will be entitled to a six-month holiday, and those that have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to top up to six months without this being recorded on their credit file.

The Coronavirus Act 2020 provides protection to social and private tenants through the ban on evictions and the delay in time for landlords to start proceedings to evict tenants. The Housing Secretary announced a further extension on evictions for private renters until 21 February 2021 and this will be kept under review.

Landlords are unable to start possession proceedings unless they have served six months’ notice on the tenants of the property. As before, the exception is for serious circumstances such as illegal occupation, domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour, and where a tenant has accrued extreme rent arrears to the value of over six months’ rent.

Business

Back in November we reported that Chancellor Rishi Sunak had announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which covers 80% of salaries up to £2,500 a month, had been extended until 31 March 2021. This has now been further extended until the end of April 2021.

This latest installment of furloughing replaces the short-lived Job Support Scheme, which provided support to businesses during the tier-system of restrictions. While it provides support to businesses until April, there are calls for the government to do more and for longer.

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has also been extended until April 2021, offering support to those who are actively trading but face reduced demand over the winter months. The fourth grant instalment will be paid February through to April covering a three-month period of profits and will be worth 80% of average monthly trading profits, capped at £7,500 in total.

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme, Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme have extended deadlines, giving businesses across the UK until the 31 March 2021 to access the support.

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme offers greater flexibility and more time, with loan repayments being extended from six to ten years, nearly halving the average monthly repayments.

The scheme has had significant take-up with loans being offered between £2,000 and £50,000, capped at 25% of turnover. Repayments aren’t due for the first 12 months and the government cover interest payments for that period.

Businesses across England that were forced to close as a result of local and national lockdowns have been able to claim grants of up to £3,000 per month. Since 5 January 2021 as a result of a third national lockdown; the government is offering businesses in England the opportunity to claim a one-off grant of up to £9,000 in addition to the grants mentioned above.

Rural farms & estates

From the start of the pandemic to nearly a year later, farmers have been faced with a monumental challenge of having to ‘feed the nation’ and keep food supplies flowing and supermarket shelves full.

Over a million people signed the NFU’s food standards petition to ensure Britain maintains its world-leading standards of animal welfare and environmental protection ahead of EU trade deals in December.

This demonstrates the increasing concern for where our food comes from and this has been noticed throughout the pandemic. There has been an increase in public support for British farmers providing nutritional, climate-friendly food with low food miles to protect and enhance the natural environment.

With the vaccine rollout under way, many fear that the uneven distribution of vaccine centres, particularly in rural areas, is causing a postcode lottery style delivery of the Covid-19 vaccinations.

As a result of limited public transport networks in rural areas hundreds of thousands of people in rural areas in England without access to a car could struggle to reach their nearest vaccination centre.

It is reported that specialist teams from the armed forces are on standby to deliver Covid-19 vaccines to rural areas of the country via helicopter as winter storms and floods could lead to a possible delay in mass vaccination.

Rural businesses are looking to adapt, with more and more farms considering diversifying into hospitality and tourism. The staycation trend was on the rise in 2019 and has been ever more so increased with camping and glamping being a popular attraction for UK residents.

However, this industry has been put under immense pressure last year with two national lockdowns and travel restrictions in place. The travel trends for 2021 see ‘staycations as the new vacations’ as people look to explore more on their doorstep and avoid the hassle of travel restrictions and quarantine regulations.

Rural property owners with hospitality and tourism businesses will benefit from an extension of the cut in VAT from 20% to 5% until 31st March 2021.

This extension was part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s economic package to mitigate the impact of the virus on businesses and will give the tourism and hospitality sectors confidence to continue trading and adapt to an ever-changing working environment.

The government is under pressure from the hospitality industry to extend this cut for the year to allow businesses to not only survive, but recover from the effects of the pandemic.

With another lockdown in play and hesitance over the return to office environments, the prospect of country living appeals to those stuck in London with minimal outdoor space.

This fundamental shift in buyers’ requirements is seeing rural hotspots around the Home Counties emerge. As long as rural connectivity can support the needs of remote workers, we could see an increase in the conversion of redundant farm buildings for development to commercial and residential use to meet the growing demand.

The future of tax for property buyers is very much a topic of the moment, with calls to extend the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) for a further six months. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under pressure from some conservative MPs to extend the holiday beyond 31 March 2021 to protect families and individuals caught up in the economic fallout from the pandemic.

In recent news, the Financial Conduct Authority is extending the ban on mortgage lenders repossessing homes while coronavirus restrictions remain tough by two months until 1 April 2021. This was due to expire at the end of January 2021 but with the worsening coronavirus situation, “consumers could experience significant harm if forced to move home at this time as a result of repossession proceedings”, the regulator said.

Covid-19 Secure Workplaces

With England in the midst of a third national lockdown, the pressure is on businesses more than ever to ensure that they are following the government's guidelines when it comes to providing a Covid-19 secure workplace for employees who are still able to go to work.

Part of this includes a thorough risk assessment addressing the risks of Covid-19 and implementing social distancing and control measures; meaning that landowners need to update their Health & Safety policies accordingly.

According to Government guidelines, rural business risk assessments should include the following;

1. Assessing the risk – Employers have a legal responsibility to protect workers and ensure their health and safety is not compromised, especially from Covid-19
2. Who can work – Particular attention should be paid to the vulnerable and guidelines surrounding their employment
3. Implementing social distancing – Guidelines on two-metre distancing, frequent hand washing, screens, side-to-side working if two-metre distancing can’t be achieved
4. Managing common areas – Reconfiguring seating in break out areas and where possible, using outdoor areas
5. Managing external visitors – Maintaining a record of visitors on-site and limiting the number of visitors at any one time
6. Provide signage – Guidelines to employees on social distancing, the use of PPE, and other measures implemented to limit the transmission
7. Implementing frequent cleaning – Clearing of workspaces at the end of shifts, sanitisation stations, and frequent cleaning of work areas and shared equipment and vehicles
8. Use of PPE and mask coverings – Continue to do so where PPE is already used in the workplace
9. Managing goods arriving and leaving the farm – Encouraging drivers to stay in vehicles, limiting the number of workers loading/unloading vehicles, and revising pick up/drop off times to limit the number of visitors on site

For more information on any of the above please get in touch with Georgie

Photo by Sam Knight on Unsplash