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Coronavirus Act 2020

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Explanatory Notes

Explanatory Notes

Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.
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COVID-19 is an unforeseen and exceptional pressure on the economy. The Act makes provision to ensure that any expenditure to address the impact of COVID-19 does not affect the ability of the Government going forward to deliver more routine general economic policy and address economic shocks and investment needs as they arise.
Section 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 is the principal general power for a Secretary of State to provide financial assistance to business. The power is exercisable by a Secretary of State on a shared or concurrent basis with the Scottish Ministers and the Welsh Ministers. Subsections (4) and (5) impose an aggregate limit of £12,000 million (£12 billion) for financial assistance under section 8.
The Act provides that financial assistance provided under section 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 does not count towards the £12 billion aggregate limit where it is "coronavirus-related".