Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of maintaining (1) the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and (2) the Job Retention Scheme, at the current level for businesses that are unable to open as a result of restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

The information requested is not available.

The latest Management Information ^[1], which shows claims for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, was published on 22 September 2020 on GOV.UK.

This shows that by 19 July 2020 a total of £7.6 billion had been claimed for the first SEISS grant and by 20 September 2020 a total of £5.6 billion had been claimed for the second SEISS grant.

This information also shows that £39.3 billion had been claimed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme by 20 September 2020.

^[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-coronavirus-covid-19-statistics