Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the Coronavirus Self-Employment Income Support Scheme to cover people who became self-employed in August 2018 and are not permitted to claim as a result of employed income having comprised the majority of their income during that financial year.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) is designed to provide financial support to those who rely on self-employment as their main source of income. This aims to ensure the SEISS is targeted at those who need it the most. Many individuals earn small amounts of income from self-employment in addition to income from employment and other sources.
Self-employed individuals, including members of partnerships, are eligible for the SEISS if they have submitted their Income Tax Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19, continued to trade, and have been adversely affected by COVID-19. To qualify, their self-employed trading profits must be less than £50,000, with more than half of their income coming from self-employment. Some 95 per cent of people who receive the majority of their income from self-employment could benefit from this scheme.
Those with trading profits less than 50% of their total income may still benefit from other support, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Individuals may have access to a range of grants and loans depending on their circumstances, and the SEISS supplements the significant support already announced for UK businesses, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Bounce Back Loans Scheme, and the deferral of tax payments.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support his Department provides to self-employed people with an income of less than 50 per cent of their total monthly income as a result of being in receipt of an armed forces pension.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In order to qualify for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), more than half of an individual’s income must come from self-employment. Those who do not meet this criterion will not qualify for the scheme, although anyone requiring support before the beginning of June should have access to other measures appropriate to their individual circumstances. These measures include the relaxation of the earnings rules in Universal Credit.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support his Department is providing to farmers in (a) Shropshire and (b) the UK that are ineligible for universal credit as a result of their level of savings.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Farmers in Shropshire and across the UK can benefit from the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Government to protect people and businesses against the current economic emergency. This includes £330 billion of government-backed and guaranteed loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Schemes, a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme to help self-employed individuals affected by the outbreak, and a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help businesses keep millions of people in employment.
Universal Credit is not available to people with capital over £16,000, to ensure support is targeted at those who most need it. However, if self-employed claimants have savings in their account that are to be used for business purposes, those will not be counted towards their capital limit. Claimants should make this clear in their Universal Credit application and online journal, and may be asked to prove it.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help (a) agency workers and (b) people on zero hours contracts during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is seeking to protect, as far as possible, people’s jobs and incomes. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will help employers to continue paying 80% of their employees’ wages and is open to individuals on any contract type who were on an employer’s PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020. To support those on low incomes through the outbreak the Government has also announced a package of temporary welfare measures, including an increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance and the working tax credit basic element.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support charities during the covid-19 outbreak; and whether he has plans to allocate emergency funding to that sector.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Many charities and social enterprises will benefit from the existing measures announced to support employers and businesses. Under these measures, like other businesses, charities can defer their VAT bills and pay no business rates for their shops next year. All charities are eligible for the job retention scheme and the right answer for many charities will be to furlough their employees with the government paying 80% of wages.
However, we know that some charities are providing critical services and wider support to vulnerable people and communities during the pandemic. On 8 April the Chancellor announced a £750 million package of support for charities providing key services and supporting vulnerable people during the Covid-19 crisis. This new package of support will enable such organisations to continue providing essential services to those most in need.
This funding package will help charities providing essential services to continue their operations and to weather the storm until we return to more normal times. Funding for charities will be made available in the coming weeks and further information will be announced on Gov.uk. The Government’s aim is to get funding to those in greatest need as soon as possible.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support businesses that do not have premises that are rateable but pay corporation tax during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
A range of measures to support all businesses has been made available. These include the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, allowing businesses to benefit from loans of up to £5m, with the first 12 months of that finance interest free, and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help keep people in employment. This scheme means businesses can put workers on temporary leave and the government will pay them cash grants of 80% of their wages up to a cap of £2,500, providing they keep the worker employed. They will receive the grant from HMRC, and all UK organisations can self-certify that it has furloughed employees. The scheme will cover the cost of wages backdated to March 1st.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support is available to (a) single parents in employment and (b) other parents in the event that schools are closed as part of the response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Secretary of State for Education has announced the closure of schools, colleges and early years settings as part of the country’s ongoing response to coronavirus. However, parents whose work is critical to this response and who cannot keep their children safe at home are able to access educational provision.
The government is ensuring it is protecting, as far as possible, people’s jobs and incomes during this outbreak. Last week, we announced further measures, including a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to support businesses who would otherwise have laid off employees, and we are in turn encouraging employers to support their staff by looking at this and other support being made available to them before they take the decision to make staff redundant.
We also announced additional support with housing costs, including a mortgage holiday, higher support for low income renters, and a pause on tenant evictions, and support for low income households, including those on Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit. These measures will benefit many families, including single parents.
Guidance on the government’s response to coronavirus, including for parents and employers, is available at gov.uk/coronavirus.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to support self-employed people in the event they are without an income as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is deferring tax payments, through the Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA) and VAT system to help support businesses and the self-employed with cash flows. VAT payments due between now and mid-June will be deferred. No business will have to make a VAT payment to HMRC in that period. Income tax payments due in July 2020 under the Self-Assessment system will be deferred to January 2021, benefitting up to 5.7m self-employed businesses.
The Government has also announced it is delaying the reforms to the off-payroll working rules (IR35) from April 2020 to April 2021 and the reforms will be legislated for in the 2020 Finance Bill. This deferral has been announced in response to the spread of Covid-19, to help businesses and individuals deal with the economic impacts of the pandemic.
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme is available to self-employed individuals with an eligible business entity. By providing an 80% government guarantee on finance facilities up to £5 million, this scheme will help more businesses access the finance they need. The Government will not charge businesses for this guarantee, and will also cover the first 12 months of interest payments for businesses. For more information on the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme go to: www.British-business-bank.co.uk/CBILS.
The Minimum Income Floor will be temporarily relaxed for all self-employed UC claimants for 1 year from 6 April. This means a drop in earnings due to the economic impacts of Covid-19 will not affect the amount of UC a claimant receives. This goes further than the Budget announcement to temporarily relax the MIF only for claimants who are directly affected by Covid-19, which has already come into effect. For those directly affected or self-isolating, there will be no attendance requirements, and Universal Credit can be claimed online or via phone.
Self-employed people unable to work because they are directly affected by Covid-19 or self-isolating will be eligible for Contributory Employment and Support Allowance. This is now payable from the first day of sickness, rather than the eighth. Eligible claimants under 25 will be entitled to £57.90 per week, and over 25s £73.10 per week.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the effect on the public purse of a delay to the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Prime Minister has made clear that she does not want to see Article 50 extended, and the absolute focus of the Government is leaving the European Union on 29 March with a deal.
We are currently focused on getting this deal passed by 12 March, and if that does not happen, the PM has set out the next steps.
If Article 50 is delayed the fiscal impact will depend on the precise arrangements agreed with the EU at the time.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will make an estimate of the amount of money that the EU has spent on the (a) Republic of Ireland and (b) island of Ireland to date; and if he will make an estimate of the amount of money the UK has contributed to those bodies that formed part of that spending.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The government contributes to the EU budget as a whole and not to individual member states or funds, therefore it is not possible to separate UK funding which has been allocated to the Republic of Ireland or the island of Ireland through the EU budget. The Commission does however publish details of receipts to each Member State which can be found online at: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/figures/interactive/index_en.cfmAn overview of EU funding to Northern Ireland can be found online at: https://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/news/eu-funding-northern-ireland-0_en