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Government’s Self-Employment Support Scheme extended

Some good news for the self-employed – Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced at the Government’s daily briefing on Friday 29 May that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme will be extended and will pay out another single grant covering three months.  He also said this will be the final grant from the self-employment scheme.

Those eligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will be able to claim the additional grant in August, which will be worth up to 70% of their average monthly trading profits, though it’s capped at £6,570 overall. The money will again be paid out in a single instalment covering June, July and August.

How will this second grant for self-employed people work?

SEISS opened for applications on Wednesday 13 May initially covering three months (March, April and May) and the grants were worth up to 80% of profits, capped at £2,500 per month, or £7,500 in total. The Government has said that if you are eligible for the scheme you can still apply for this first grant but must do so by Monday 13 July.

Applications for the second grant will open in August. This time the grant will be worth 70% of average monthly trading profits, again paid out in a single instalment covering three months’ worth of average profits (June, July and August), though this time it’ll be capped at £2,190 per month, or £6,570 in total.

The eligibility criteria are the same for both grants, and you don’t need to have claimed the first grant to receive the second grant. You can find full information on eligibility criteria for the scheme in our blog https://www.fkgb.co.uk/self-employed-invited-to-get-ready-to-make-their-claims-for-coronavirus-covid-19-support/, but in brief:

Individuals are eligible if their business has been adversely affected by coronavirus, they traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020, intend to continue trading, and they:

  • earn at least half of their income through self-employment
  • have trading profits of no more than £50,000 per year
  • traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted their Self-Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year

Please note HMRC is using information that customers have provided in their 2018 to 2019 tax return – and returns for 2016 to 2017 and 2017 to 2018 where needed – to determine their eligibility.