Questions your business may have around coronavirus

Our Relationship Managers and Business Banking teams are here to offer help mitigate the financial impact of coronavirus.

For more information about the government support available and how to access it, visit our government schemes page.

Contact your Relationship Manager, local Business Development Manager or get in touch via email.

For our larger commercial and corporate customers, we can help hedge your Foreign Exchange and Interest Rate risks and assist with managing changing cash flows.

We are also ready to help you manage delay and disruption to your supply chains. Possible solutions include Supply Chain Finance (eligibility criteria applies, security may be required. Over 18s only), working capital facilities and short to medium term debt facilities.

If you believe that you are experiencing, or will experience, financial difficulties, there are independent organisations that can provide free advice and support on your financial needs, such as Citizens Advice, National Debtline, Business Debtline and PayPlan.

Details of how you can contact these organisations and other sources of free advice can be found on the MoneyHelper website:

www.moneyhelper.org.uk

While our own data usage and privacy policies have not changed, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)* and the British Business Bank (BBB) were required to ensure that they could use the data in relation to facilities that we’ve offered under the Covid-19 loan schemes:

• Coronavirus Business Loan Scheme (CBILS)
• Coronavirus Large Business Loan Scheme (CLBILS)
• Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS)

This is to support their reporting requirements in relation to state aid. We contacted all customers who have applied and been offered lending, regardless of whether they had drawn down on the loan.

*Subsequently The Department for Business & Trade

These notices were updated to clarify the ways customer data for the Covid-19 loan schemes is used. Data will be used for data analytics and to meet reporting obligations to the European Commission and the UK government.

Customer data is information which you provided to us for the purpose of obtaining your loan, as well as information about the loan. This information may include details of individual loans (including the identity of the borrower).

Where required, certain information about loans granted under the Covid-19 loan schemes including customer data must be shared with the UK government and the European Commission. They may publish details on their respective transparency websites. 

No action was required; this is just to keep you updated on these changes.

You’ll find more details on these changes in the communication that we sent to you. You can find further information about the BEIS / BBB data and privacy notice here:

• Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy - data reporting questions and answers
• British Business Bank - data reporting

If you have any questions in relation to the BEIS / BBB data and privacy notice which are not answered by these Q&As, contact the BEIS at enquiries@beis.gov.uk.

(2023 UPDATE: *now The Department for Business &Trade)

Talk to HMRC about managing payments. You can set up a Time to Pay agreement to delay debt collection.

Call the HMRC coronavirus Helpline:
0800 015 955

Read more about Time to Pay on the government website.

If your business has been adversely affected by coronavirus, you may be eligible to apply for help to pay your rates.

Non-domestic properties affected by the virus, including buildings owned or used by voluntary organisations, may be eligible.

For more information, call 0300 200 7801 or visit nibusinessinfo.co.uk.

Visit fsb.org.uk for business advice and support..

Call the Invest Northern Ireland Helpline on 0800 181 4422.

Tyl by NatWest provides payment services - over the phone, online, via link or in person – helping to adapt your business model. Keep customers and staff safe with more ways to pay with minimal contact. 

Please note that Ulster Bank is a part of NatWest Group. 

Find out more about Tyl

Advice about what to do if an employee is unwell with coronavirus is on the government website.

We’re doing everything we can to keep our branch services running for customers. 

Some of our branches are operating on reduced hours. Please see our branch locator for further details.

Please help us support those who need us most. Our colleagues in branches and contact centres are working incredibly hard in difficult circumstances.

Please take care when visiting our branches and practice safe social distancing.

If you need to deposit cash and cheques, there are a few options which can help you maintain safe social distancing.

• If you’re already signed up for our Fast lodgement service, you won’t need to use our cashier service, and you can use the receipt as pay-in evidence.
• In branches with Bulk Coin In machines (BCI) you’ll be able to empty the bags of unsorted coin to be automatically counted and then take your receipt to the branch colleague at the front desk, who can lodge the receipt in your account.
• You can also place orders for cash and coin.
• You can still use Night safes, which will be emptied and items processed as usual although there may be delays if the branch is temporarily closed.
• Open Credits – if your branch is closed, although it’s not possible to transfer Open Credits between branches, your nearest open branch will be able to help you.
• Post Offices offer banking services and remain open as an essential service. View information about opening times and services.

If you can't reach your branch or nearest Post Office, you can post cheques to the following address:

NatWest
CPU
PO Box 21
41 The Drapery
Northampton
NN1 2EY

We can only accept cheques with a paying-in slip.  You can order paying-in slips via Anytime Banking, or request paying-in books through Bankline if you have access.  There are also a small number of paying-in slips at the back of your cheque book.

Please note:

• Do not send cash; it will not be processed and there will be no way to return it.
• We can't pay a single cheque to multiple accounts, you can only pay in one or multiple cheques using a single paying-in slip.
• We'll process cheques within 5 working days of receipt.

You can deposit up to 10 foreign cheques drawn on overseas banks.

For larger volumes of foreign cheques, send them via a secure recorded delivery mail service to:

National Westminster Bank Plc
Overseas Clearing Team
First Floor
Thanet Grange
Nestuda Way
Westcliff on Sea
Essex
SS0 0EJ

Use the Post Office locator to find your nearest branch.

We are participating in the NHS Covid-19 contact tracing activity.

This means we may share your phone and email contact details with the NHS contact tracing team if there is a risk you have been within two metres of someone who has symptoms of Covid-19.