General updates

25 March 2020

Vehicle MOT:

Generally, people should stay at home and avoid travel, only leaving their home for essential purposes.
Car, motorcycle and van owners will be granted a 6-month exemption from MOT testing from 30 March 2020. This will allow people to carry on with essential travel. During this period vehicles must still be kept in a roadworthy condition.
If your MOT is now due, you will still need to get your vehicle tested if you intended to use it before the new regulations come into place on 30 March.
What if my MOT is currently due but I’m in self-isolation? The Department of Transport is working with insurers and the police to ensure people will not be negatively affected as a result of self-isolating.
Practical driving tests and annual testing for lorries, buses and coaches have been suspended for up to 3 months.
Further information is available here.

If you are concerned about filing your accounts with Companies House:

From 25 March 2020, businesses will be able to apply for a 3 month extension for filing their accounts. Those citing issues around COVID-19 will be immediately granted this extension, thereby avoiding an automatic penalty for late accounts.
Applications can be made online here.

If your business is in the fishing industry:

Over £5 million in financial support has been designated for the Scottish fishing industry. Funding has been offered to over 650 seafood fishing companies to help with the collapse of export and hospitality markets for Scottish delicacies like langoustine, prawns and crab.
You will be able to access a grant if you are the owner of full time Scottish registered fishing vessel of up to 12 metres length. The initial payment will be 50 per cent of two months’ average earnings.
Full time registered vessels are defined by the scheme as a vessel which has recorded landings of £20,000 or more, and earnings are defined as recorded landing income from 2019 sales notes which were submitted to Marine Scotland by buyers.
The Scottish Government has said further support is being developed for the onshore processing industry, as well as companies in the shellfish growing sector.
Marine Scotland will be writing to all vessels and relevant representative Associations with more details. Queries can be emailed to seafisheriesintervention@gov.scot.

Single Application Form submission window COVID-19 update

With the current government advice that people should be working from home wherever possible and following the strict ‘social distancing’ restrictions, there is recognition that this will be causing implications for customers needing to complete their Single Application Forms (SAF) within the required deadlines.