Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether artists that have transitioned from receiving the majority of their earnings through PAYE to receiving the majority of their earnings through self-employment in the last three years will be classified as self-employed in respect of the Coronavirus Self-employment Income Support Scheme from the date they began to receive the majority of their earnings through self-employment.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced new support for the self-employed on 26 March 2020.
The new Self-Employed Income Support Scheme will help those with lost trading profits due to COVID-19. It will allow eligible individuals to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of their trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months. This may be extended if needed and is one of the most generous self-employed support schemes in the world.
To qualify, an individual’s self-employed trading profits must be less than £50,000 and more than half of their income must come from self-employment. Some 95% of people who receive most of their income from self-employment could benefit from this Scheme.
More information about the Self-employment Income Support Scheme, including the full eligibility criteria and how to claim, is available at www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme.