Coronavirus

Mar- 2020 -

25 March

Covid-19: Off-licenses considered ‘essential’ businesses by government

The government has added off-licenses to its list of retail businesses that can remain open following a ban to close all non-essential retailers to combat the Covid-19 outbreak. This also includes licenced shops selling alcohol, including those within breweries. It comes after the prime minister instructed retailers and all restaurants,…

25 March

Covid-19: Government suspends gender pay gap reporting

The Government Equalities Office (GEO) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has taken the decision to suspend enforcement of the gender pay gap deadlines for this reporting year (2019/20) due to the coronavirus outbreak. The GEO and EHRC said the decision means there will be no expectation on…

25 March

Britain ‘sees opportunity’ for food and drink deliveries, says CGA

In the week prior to the Prime Minister’s stay-at-home order, 53% of the public used or planned to use delivery as an alternative, according to the latest research from CGA. Some 13% of the public received delivery from a restaurant or takeaway either for the first time, or more often…

24 March

March Beer Duty payment to go ahead

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has confirmed that the March Beer Duty payment will not be cancelled, leaving thousands of small independent breweries “under threat”. This is according to the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), which called the chancellor’s decision to collect March’s Beer Duty payments as “incredibly disappointing”…

24 March

Distiller pledges alcohol towards 8 million bottles of hand sanitiser

Distiller Diageo has pledged to enable the creation of more than eight million bottles of hand sanitiser, by donating two million litres of alcohol to manufacturers amid the Covid-19 outbreak. The group behind Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff will now provide grain neutral spirit (GNS) to hand sanitiser producers across the…

24 March

Contactless spending limit to rise to £45

Barclaycard has announced it will be rolling out the deployment of a new £45 contactless limit across UK retailers from 1 April 2020. The payments provider, which enables almost half of the UK’s credit and debit card transactions, said that the increased threshold would “help to prevent” the spread of…

24 March

Deliveroo announces M&S partnership

Deliveroo has announced it will begin delivering a range of Marks and Spencer groceries to those who are self-isolating at home amid the coronavirus pandemic. The takeaway delivery service signed a deal with Marks and Spencers that will now enable them to deliver essential items to families from participating stores…

24 March

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – Advice for Employers

Key points include: – Furloughed workers should not undertake any work for the company, including answering calls or emails – JRS should not interrupt an employees’ continuity of service – Annual leave will continue to accrue – Grants should be structured so no PAYE tax or national insurance contributions are due…

23 March

Krispy Kreme UK and Ireland closes sites temporarily amid Covid-19 outbreak

Krispy Kreme has announced the temporary closure of all its UK and Ireland stores amid the recent Covid-19 virus outbreak. In a recent statement, CEO Richard Cheshire said the company took the “difficult decision” to close all its stores from 6pm today (Monday 23 March 2020) for “a little while.”…

23 March

Subway to close all UK sites from today

Subway stores across the UK are set to close their doors at 5pm today (23 March). News of the closure closely follows announcements from McDonald’s, Nando’s and Costa, that they have all ceased trading amid the continued coronavirus pandemic. In a statement on its social media, Subway said: “We want…