Self-Employed set to check eligibility and details of latest SEISS grant from 23 November says HMRC

Image credit: HMRC

HMRC will release full details on how taxi drivers and other Self-Employed workers can check eligibility for the latest COVID-19 support grant in just over a fortnight.

According to communications sent by HMRC to workers who may have been financially hit by the effects of coronavirus, eligibility checks for the current Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and details on how to claim the grant will be published on GOV.UK starting week commencing Monday 23‌‌‌ November.

Yesterday, after several previous changes to the SEISS, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the UK Government is increasing the overall level of the next SEISS grant from 55% to 80% of trading profits.

This grant will cover a three-month period from the start of November until the end of January. The UK Government will pay a taxable grant which is based on 80% of three months’ average trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £7,500.

The SEISS Grant Extension will last for six months in total, from 1‌‌‌ November 2020 to 30‌‌‌ April 2021. A further grant will cover February to April, as grants will be paid in two lump sum instalments each covering a three-month period. The government will set out further details, including the level of that grant, in due course.

IPSE, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed, welcomed the extension of the SEISS. They said it also hopes “government will do the right thing” in January by matching self-employed to employee support until March.

IPSE has also urged the Government to finally address the gaps in SEISS and protect the limited company freelancers, newly self-employed and other “ignored” groups through the winter.

Derek Cribb, CEO of IPSE, said: “It is absolutely right for the government to adapt its approach and extend SEISS at the same level as the furlough scheme until January. We hope the government will do the right thing and extend it in-line with employee support until March.

“We also urge the government to finally address the gaping holes in SEISS, extending support to the desperately struggling newly self-employed, limited company directors and other groups it has so far left-behind.

“The government has provided admirably robust support for many employees and self-employed people, but at every turn it continues to ignore large groups of the self-employed who have been financially devastated in the last six months. We thank the government for its support, but must press on it the urgent need for a targeted approach to help these forgotten groups.”