Businesses are facing a "devastating cliff edge", one of the county's leading business advisors has warned, when a range of support packages for businesses comes to an end on March 31.

Accountants and business advisor Kreston Reeves, which has offices in Canterbury, Chatham and Sandwich, is now calling on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to introduce a new package of support in his March 3 Budget.

It wants to see measures which taper off over time, giving firms the opportunity to rebuild after the string of lockdowns.

Among the measures due to stop at the end of March are business rates relief for the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors; VAT cuts for hospitality and travel accommodation; government loan schemes; the moratorium on commercial landlords evicting tenants; and the ban on creditor statutory demands and winding up petitions.

Kreston Reeves is calling for a a number of key reviews - including on business rates.

Explains Andrew Tate, partner and head of restructuring: "The recent reform of business rates has proven to be deeply unsatisfactory, highlighted further by the Covid pandemic. The pandemic provides government with a perfect opportunity for a wholesale review of business rates into a more progressive tax that supports bricks and mortar business and our valued high streets.”

He adds businesses will have accumulated considerable debt during the pandemic that may hold many back for decades to come.

He explains: "Banks are, quite naturally, reluctant to swap debt for equity and are in many instances unable to do so, but could government? The Chancellor should be encouraged to explore ways it can take equity in UK businesses, sharing in their future success. A department for enterprise would inevitably create new employment opportunities too.”

Meanwhile, Kreston's corporate tax partner, Andy Wallis, is calling for a move to a flexible furlough package - a move many have used already to bring staff back into the office for just one or two days a week.

He adds: “The government could quite simply maintain a flexible furlough scheme, phasing it out over a six or 12-month window.”

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