Millions of self-employed to benefit from second stage of support scheme

Millions of self-employed people, whose livelihoods have been affected by coronavirus, will be able to claim a second payment of up to £6,570 from today – as the government continues to help drive the UK’s recovery.

• second stage of Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) opens for applications today
• those eligible will receive a government grant worth up to £6,570
• over 2.7 million people have benefitted from the scheme so far, receiving £7.8 billion

Over 2.7 million benefited from the first stage of the SEISS - with the government handing out £7.8 billion of grants to help them through the crisis.

Those eligible will now be able to receive a second and final grant worth 70% of their average monthly trading profits, with the money set to land in their bank accounts within six working days of making a claim.

Anyone whose self-employed business has been adversely affected by coronavirus since 14 July is eligible for the scheme.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:

“Our self employment income support scheme has already helped millions of hard working people, whose get up and go drive is crucial to our economy.

“It means that people’s livelihoods across the country will remain protected as we continue our economic recovery - helping them get back on their feet as we return to normal.”

HMRC will contact all potentially eligible customers to advise them that they can claim for a second and final SEISS grant.

The eligibility criteria remains the same as for the first grant, with people needing to have had trading profits of no more than £50,000, making up at least half of their total income.

The SEISS is part of a comprehensive package of support for self-employed people, including Bounce Back loans, income tax deferrals, rental support, increased levels of Universal Credit, mortgage holidays and the various business support schemes the government has introduced to protect businesses during this time.  

The Chancellor has also set out the government’s Plan for Jobs to support, protect and create jobs up and down the country- including in the construction and housing sectors through funding to decarbonise public sector buildings and our Green Homes Grant.

Further information

• Guidance on how the grant works can be found here.
• Eligible customers will be informed that they will be able to make their claim for the second and final grant at any time from a specified date, until the scheme closes on 19 October 2020.
• For the first grant, self-employed individuals in Scotland have made 155,000 claims totalling £449 million; in Wales 108,000 claims for £289 million have been made and in Northern Ireland 76,000 claims for £216 million have been submitted. In England, 2.2 million claims were made totalling £6.4 billion.