Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to support people who are paid a substantial part of their income via commission and have lost that income as a result of the covid-19 outbreak where that income is not covered as part of the calculation for payments under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The objective of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is to enable employers to keep people in employment. To achieve this, the grants compensate employers for the payments that they are contractually obliged to make, in order to avoid the need for redundancies. Covering discretionary payments, for example commission, would go beyond the objectives of the scheme.

The Government recognises that for some employees, the pay in scope for this emergency grant package will be less than the overall sum they usually receive. The Government is supporting people on low incomes who need to rely on the welfare system through a significant package of temporary measures. This includes a £20 per week increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element, and a nearly £1 billion increase in support for renters through increases to the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants. These changes will benefit new and existing claimants. Anyone can check their eligibility and apply for Universal Credit by visiting https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit.