Last lockdown, self employed workers had an anxious wait to find out if there would be any financial help available for them.
But thankfully, the Prime Minister hasn’t left us all in a panic this time, insisting that self-employed workers will be able to claim government support worth 80% of trading profits ahead of the new national measures coming into force tomorrow.
In order to reflect the extension of the furlough scheme for employed workers through November, Boris Johnson announced support for the self-employed will also be boosted throghout the new month-long lockdown.
What does this mean?
Under the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS), eligible workers can currently claim support covering 40% of their average earnings from last year to cover a period of three months, capped at £3,750.
The new enhanced scheme will open for applications from the end of November and cover 80% of trading profits for that month.
Including the new higher November grant, it means the November-January payment will be at 55% of profits, up to a maximum of £5,160.
However, as eligibility criteria will be the same as for previous grants, critics said it still meant as many as 2.9 million freelancers, contractors and newly self employed people would remain excluded.
What other help is there?
The SEISS continues to be just one element of a package of support for the self-employed.
In addition to this you can also access other elements of the package which includes Bounce Back Loans, tax deferrals, rental support, mortgage holidays, and other business support grants.
As with the previous SEISS, we cannot apply for this on your behalf. However, we can offer you advice on this or any of the other areas of your finance that you may be struggling with.