Asked by: Joy Morrissey (Conservative - Beaconsfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support bank branches at risk of closure during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has worked closely with the financial regulators to ensure that banks, building societies, credit unions and the Post Office continue to maintain branch access for essential banking services while balancing the needs of their customers with the safety and welfare of staff. The vast majority of branches have remained open.
In the longer term, banking service providers will need to balance customer interests, market competition, and other commercial factors when considering its branch strategy. Decisions on opening and closing branches are taken by the management team of each bank on a commercial basis and the Government does not intervene in these decisions.
However, the Government also firmly believes that the impact of branch closures should be understood, considered, and mitigated where possible so that all customers, wherever they live, continue to have access to over the counter banking services.
Since May 2017, the major high street banks have signed up to the Access to Banking Standard, in which they commit to ensure customers are well informed about branch closures, the bank’s reasons for closure and options for continued access to banking services.
In September 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published guidance setting out their expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. Firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of a planned closure on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs, and other relevant branch services and consider possible alternative access arrangements. This will ensure the implementation of closure decisions is done in a way that treats customers fairly.
Alternative options for access might include the Post Office, where 95% of business and 99% of personal banking customers are able to carry out their everyday banking at over 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
Asked by: Joy Morrissey (Conservative - Beaconsfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to extend the Bounce Back Loan Scheme in response to the additional time businesses have been subject to covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government launched the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) to ensure that the smallest businesses could access loans of up to £50,000 in a matter of just days. As of 15 November, the scheme had supported nearly 1.4 million businesses with facilities totaling over £42 billion.
Originally, the scheme was due to close to new loan applications on 4 November. However, this end date has already been extended twice; initially to 30 November and subsequently to the existing scheme end date of 31 January 2021. This extension ensures that businesses have more time to make loan applications, supporting them through the pandemic.
Furthermore, the Government is continuing to work with lenders and business representatives to introduce a new, successor loan guarantee scheme, set to begin once the existing guarantee schemes (BBLS, along with the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme) close to new applications. More details around this new scheme will be released in due course.
Asked by: Joy Morrissey (Conservative - Beaconsfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to work with his international counterparts to investigate companies and agents who were promoting loan charge schemes.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The UK has one of the world’s largest networks of tax treaties and exchange agreements which HMRC regularly utilise to exchange information with other countries’ tax authorities. This includes asking, where appropriate, for information that will assist investigations into tax avoidance schemes including those caught by the loan charge and the companies and agents who promote these schemes.
The UK via HMRC is also a leading member of the Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC), a network of 42 national tax administrations. The core purpose of JITSIC is to facilitate the sharing of information and collaboration between tax authorities in order to identify and close down abusive tax arrangements.
Asked by: Joy Morrissey (Conservative - Beaconsfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a means tested loan charge repayment scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government estimates that 50,000 individuals were affected by the Loan Charge and that following the implementation of the Loan Charge Review’s recommendations, about 11,000 will be taken out of its scope altogether, and more than 30,000 will benefit from the changes. One significant change is to allow taxpayers to split their loan balance evenly across three tax years.
People will not to have to pay their Loan Charge debts in one go. Where a taxpayer cannot pay in full on time, HMRC will seek to agree payment by instalments with them. The payment plan agreed will be based on what the taxpayer can afford and there is no upper limit over how long HMRC can potentially spread payments.
HMRC will not require payment of more than 50% of disposable income, aside from where taxpayers have very high disposable incomes. Where a taxpayer has no disposable assets and earns less than £50,000, they are automatically entitled to a minimum of a five-year payment plan, and where they earn less than £30,000, a minimum of seven years. HMRC have also committed that they will not force a taxpayer to sell their main home or release their existing pension to fund a disguised remuneration or Loan Charge tax bill.
HMRC have established a dedicated team to handle enquiries from Loan Charge taxpayers. Any taxpayer unable to pay in full and needing a payment plan should contact the Loan Charge helpline on 03000 599110.