How we’ve been supporting our healthcare clients

Over recent weeks we have been assisting a number of our healthcare clients with applications for various loans and grant funding made available to give businesses financial support during the current crisis.

One such form of support from the Scottish Government is the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF), which provides grants to SMEs who are vital to Scotland’s local or national economy and have been made vulnerable by this crisis.

One of our healthcare clients, whose income was down by over 50% due to measures put in place by COVID-19, was recently successful in securing a grant under the PERF. Whilst their income has fallen significantly and some staff are furloughed, there is still a requirement to have a certain number of staff available to provide vital services, and they also have other fixed costs that still need to be paid. There was therefore a need to secure funding to see the business through the coming months.

In addition to giving guidance on their claims under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, our EQ Healthcare team assisted with their PERF application form. This included preparing cashflow forecasts for the 12 months ahead, together with management accounts to support their application. The cashflow forecasts clearly showed that due to the current downturn and estimated income over coming months, that they would have a working capital gap in the coming months. In order to continue to provide local employment and vital services to the local community and economy, they requested a significant grant through the PERF.

They were successful in their application, securing 100% of the grant requested, with the application processed the week after it was submitted, and the grant paid out after a further 10 working days. The grant will provide a lifeline to the business to allow them to continue to trade, and although the need for additional cash was not immediate, planning ahead in these circumstances is vital.

For more information on how we can support you or your clients, please get in touch with our EQ Healthcare team on healthcare@eqaccountants.co.uk.