Thursday 10th December 2020
As part of the Citizens Advice Exeter and The Express and Echo weekly advice column, this week we focus on support for the self-employed due to Coronavirus.
I am self-employed and work has really fallen away because of the Coronavirus restrictions. I claimed for the first two Self-Employment Income Support Scheme payments and heard that there is some additional help now available from the Scheme. What’s the latest?
The Government has announced that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme will be extended in the form of two further grants; each available for three month periods covering November 2020 to January 2021 and February 2021 to April 2021.
To be eligible for the grant extension self-employed individuals, including members of partnerships, must:
- have been previously eligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme first and second grant (although they do not have to have claimed the previous grants)
- declare that they intend to continue to trade and are either currently actively trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus, or were previously trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus
The grant covering the period from 1 November 2020 until 31 January 2021 will provide a taxable grant calculated at 80% of 3 months average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £7,500 in total.
The Government has already announced that there will be a further grant covering the period from February 2021 to April 2021. The Government will set out further details, including the level, of the grant in due course.
The grants are taxable income and also subject to National Insurance contributions.
The online service for the next grant will be available from 30 November 2020. HMRC will provide full details about claiming and applications in guidance on GOV.UK in due course.
Further more information and advice is available at: www.citizensadvice.org.uk
Watch out for our advice column next week when we focus on challenging an unfair redundancy or problem at work.
The information contained in these articles does not constitute advice. Citizens Advice Exeter and The Express and Echo accept no liability for the information published. Citizens Advice Exeter is unable to respond to individual requests for advice through these columns. Copyright Citizens Advice. For the most up-to-date information, please visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk