Self-Employed Income Support Scheme Extended

Government updates concerning the self-employed have been relatively few and far between lately.

After the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was extended until October, the self-employed community has been waiting on bated breath to see whether the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) would be extended too.

The good news is that the Chancellor has said the SEISS will indeed be extended, with applications for a second grant opening in August.

This next round of support will be worth slightly less than the first, at 70% of average monthly trading profits rather than 80%. Payments will be capped at £6,750 in total.

We have no doubt the self-employed community will welcome the SEISS extension.

So far, 2.3m people have made claims through the scheme, worth an estimated £6.8bn and as businesses gradually adjust to new ways of socially-distanced working.

Sunak said, "Our top priority has always been to support people, protect jobs and business through this crisis.

"The furlough and self-employment schemes have been a lifeline for millions of people and businesses.

"We stood behind Britain's businesses and workers as we came into this crisis, and we stand behind them as we come through the other side.

"Now, as we being to re-open our country and kickstart our economy, these schemes will adjust to ensure those who are able to work can do so while remaining amongst the most generous in the world".

If you haven't yet applied for the first grant, you'll be able to do so until July 13. The second grant will cover the month of June, July and August.

The government will undoubtedly release more information in the coming weeks.

It's not all plain sailing for the self-employed community. There has been mounting anger from certain groups who feel that the government hasn't protected them as well as they could have done.

Directors of limited companies who pay themselves through dividends, those who earned more than £50,000 in trading profits and those who have been self-employed for less than three years are among those hardest hit.

According to a campaign group lobbying the government, Excluded UK, the total number of those affected has now reached more than three million.