Extended Self-Employment Income Support Scheme

On 29 May 2020, the Chancellor announced plans to extend the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) for those people whose trade continues to be, or is newly, adversely affected by COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Eligible self-employed people will be able to claim a second and final SEISS grant in August; this will be a taxable grant worth 70% of their average monthly trading profits for three months, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £6,570 in total.

The eligibility criteria for the second grant will be the same as for the first grant but will have to be fulfilled for the period commencing 14 July 2020. The government has not moved to extend the scheme to those who were not eligible for the first payment, for example those who started self-employment since April 2019.

People do not need to have claimed the first grant to claim the second grant: for example, their business may have been adversely affected by COVID-19 (coronavirus) more recently.

Claims for the first SEISS grant, which opened on 13‌‌ May, must be made no later than 13‌‌ July. Eligible self-employed people must make a claim before that date to receive the first SEISS grant (a taxable grant of 80% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £7,500 in total).

It’s really important to note that as with the first SEISS grant, the eligible individual must make the claim themselves. Agents will not be able to make a claim on behalf of client; this will trigger a fraud alert and will result in significant delays to payment.

Update

Claims for the second SEISS grant can be made from 17 August 2020.

Further Information

A new factsheet giving further details on the changes to CJRS and SEISS is available from gov.uk.

Our last article about the first SEISS grant is here: https://crozierjones.co.uk/blogs/prepare-to-claim-under-the-self-employed-income-support-scheme-seiss/

Protect yourself from scams

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