The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Self-employed thrown lifeline by government
Chancellor to give eligible workers 80% of their average salary from start of June
Self-employed workers will get 80% of their average salary under an “unprecedented” economic coronavirus survival plan, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced.
The chancellor said the move – worth up to a maximum of £2,500 a month – would cover 95% of the UK’S five million self-employed workers.
The money will be paid in a single lump sum, but will not begin to arrive until the start of June at the earliest.
The package comes after the UK Government was criticised for omitting the self-employed from its initial package of financial support.
At a Downing Street press conference, Mr Sunak said he was “proud of what we have done so far” to help workers, but admitted that the self-employed needed more help.
Addressing them directly, he said: “You have not been forgotten. We will not leave you behind. We all stand together.
“We are covering the same amount of income for a self-employed income as we are for furloughed employees who also receive a grant worth 80%.
“That’s unlike almost any other country, and makes our scheme one of the most generous in the world.
“Providing unprecedented support for self-employed people has been difficult to do in practice, and the self-employed are a diverse population with some people earning significant profits. So I have taken steps to make this scheme deliverable and fair.”
MPS have welcomed the scheme, but have raised concerns over the lag in payment time.
Labour’s shadow chancellor John Mcdonnell said: “My worry is that if people cannot get access to the scheme until June it will simply be too late for millions. People need support in the coming days and fortnight.”
The scheme will be open to those with a trading profit of less than £50,000 in 2018-19 or an average trading profit of less than £50,000 from 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
To qualify, more than half of their income in these periods must come from self-employment.
To minimise fraud, only those who are already in self-employment and meet the above conditions will be eligible to apply.
HMRC will identify eligible taxpayers and contact them directly with guidance on how to apply.
The income support scheme, which is being designed by HMRC from scratch, will cover the three months to May.
Grants will be paid in a single lump sum instalment covering all three months, and will start to be paid at the beginning of June.