Self-employed: Coronavirus

(asked on 12th April 2021) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to support self-employed people who have had no financial income for the duration of the covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns who are ineligible for support through universal credit or the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 15th April 2021

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has provided and will continue to provide generous support to self-employed people who meet the eligibility criteria. The Government will have spent over £33 billion supporting those in self-employment through the SEISS, making it one of the most generous self-employment income COVID support schemes in the world.

The Government is bringing more people into the scheme: changes to the fourth grant mean that over 600,000 people previously ineligible for SEISS may now be eligible, including those newly self-employed in 2019-20. This brings the total number of people who could be eligible to 3.7m.

The Government recognises that some of the rules, criteria and conditions vital to ensuring that the SEISS works for the vast majority mean that some people may not qualify.

Those ineligible for the SEISS may still be eligible for other elements of the support available. The Government has decided to extend the suspension of the Universal Credit Minimum Income Floor for three months, to the end of July 2021, so that where self-employed claimants' earnings have fallen significantly, their Universal Credit award will have increased to reflect their lower earnings.

New style Jobseeker’s Allowance is also available to individuals with sufficient National Insurance Contributions who now work under 16 hours a week on average, and does not assess household capital.

Self-employed people may also have access to other elements of support available, including Restart Grants, the Recovery Loan scheme, business rates relief, and other business support schemes.

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