Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what equalities impact assessment the Government has made of the effect of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme on women that have taken maternity leave.

Claiming Maternity Allowance or taking parental leave does not mean that the trade has ceased, and therefore should not affect a person’s eligibility for the Self Employment Income Support Scheme as long as the individual intends to return to the trade after maternity/paternity/adoption leave. The Chancellor indicated that delivering a scheme for the self-employed is a very difficult operational challenge, particularly in the time available. There is no way for HMRC to know the reasons why an individual’s profits may have dropped in earlier years from income tax self-assessment returns. However, to help those with volatile income in 2018/19, an individual can determine their eligibility on either their profits in 2018-19, or on an average between 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Anyone who submitted a tax return in 2018/19 will be eligible for the SEISS. The Government recognises that some people may not have submitted a 2018/19 return for a range of reasons, including due to parental leave. The scheme has been designed to deliver support as quickly as possible to millions of self-employed individuals by using information HMRC already holds, and any risks to the delivery of the scheme must be minimised.