Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support newly self-employed people during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown period.

The practical issues that prevented the Government from being able to include the newly self-employed in 2019-20 in the original Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), namely that HM Revenue and Customs did not have access to their self-assessment returns in order to verify their eligibility, still remain.

However, the SEISS continues to be just one element of a comprehensive package of support for the self-employed. Newly self-employed individuals who are ineligible for the SEISS Grant Extension may still be eligible for other elements of the support available. The Universal Credit standard allowance has been temporarily increased for 2020-21 and the Minimum Income Floor relaxed for the duration of the crisis, so that where self-employed claimants' earnings have fallen significantly, their Universal Credit award will have increased to reflect their lower earnings. In addition to this, they may also have access to other elements of the package, including Bounce Back loans, tax deferrals, rental support, mortgage holidays, self-isolation support payments and other business support grants.