Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to support self-employed workers facing (a) financial hardship or (b) bankruptcy due to tax repayments on SEISS grants.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has supported UK households throughout the pandemic with nearly £400 billion of COVID support, including through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) which provided over £28 billion in grants to 2.9 million individuals.
The SEISS was designed to support those whose income had dropped temporarily due to COVID-19. Like self-employed income, SEISS grants are subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance contributions at the recipient’s rate of Income Tax in the year the grant was received. This was set out by the Chancellor when announcing the scheme in March 2020, and in subsequent SEISS guidance throughout the scheme’s lifetime.
The Government does not think it is right to allow SEISS recipients to alter the rate of tax paid on that income over time. This is to ensure fairness for recipients of support across various schemes and for the taxpayers who are funding the schemes.
The Government has implemented an unprecedented package of support for taxpayers struggling with paying tax liabilities. HMRC has scaled up its longstanding Time to Pay policy, which allows any business or individual in temporary financial difficulty to schedule their tax debts into affordable, sustainable, and tailored instalment arrangements.
Anyone experiencing difficulties paying their tax bill can discuss payment options with HMRC, who are committed to supporting taxpayers through difficult times and will agree a Time to Pay arrangement wherever possible. There are further details available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it remains his policy to allow the cost-sharing principle for the public service pension scheme to continue for at least the 25 years initially agreed with unions in 2015.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The cost control mechanism is designed to ensure a fair balance of risk between public service pension scheme members and taxpayers with respect to the costs of those schemes.
Following a review of the mechanism by the Government Actuary, and a full and open public consultation process, the Government confirmed that it will implement three reforms to the mechanism. These reforms will be implemented from the 2020 valuations onwards.
The Government does not believe these reforms breach the 25-year guarantee. The elements protected by the 25-year guarantee are set out in legislation, (namely, section 22 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013), and the cost control mechanism is not included. The reforms will make the mechanism more stable and allow it to operate more in line with its objectives. The reforms will make changes to member benefits less likely, in line with the spirit of the 25-year guarantee.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Financial Ombudsman Service on streamlining their complaints procedure to reduce the time taken for customer cases to be resolved.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Treasury regularly meets with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to discuss a variety of matters. For example, I meet regularly with the Chief Executive and the Chair of the FOS.
Improving timeliness and customer service is central to the FOS’ plans for the future. The FOS’ Board has recently commissioned an independent review of the FOS, to ensure that the FOS can continue to effectively meet the needs of its customers. The results of the review will be published in due course.
The FOS is an independent, non-governmental body. In view of this independence, it would not be appropriate for the Government to comment further on the detail of operational matters at the FOS.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to extend to the purchase of all financial products the 14-day cooling-off period applicable to some of those products.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Various laws give consumers rights to cooling off periods, including the Consumer Credit Act 1974 which provides a 14 day cooling off period in which to cancel a credit agreement, such as a personal loan. In addition, the Financial Services (Distance Marketing) Regulations 2004 set out that for most financial services sold at a distance, consumers generally have 14 days to cancel the contract. For some products, such as certain pension products, the period is 30 days.
There are some financial products where the right to cancel doesn't apply, for example where the price of that service depends on fluctuations in the financial markets beyond the control of the product provider, or where the service purchased has been used in full.
The Government keeps all legislation under review, working closely with the financial services regulators as appropriate.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for the aviation industry beyond September 2021.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was designed as a temporary economy-wide measure to support businesses while widespread restrictions were in place. After running for nineteen months, the scheme closed on 30 September 2021. To date, it has succeeded in supporting 11.7 million jobs across the UK, with employer claims totalling £69.3 billion.
As the economy has reopened, the jobs market has recovered, vacancies are at record highs and the success of the Government’s vaccine programme has allowed us to lift almost all restrictions. That is why it is right that the Government continues to wind down its temporary pandemic support, while continuing to support businesses to invest in the recovery and supporting people into new jobs.
The Government recognises the challenging circumstances the aviation industry has faced as a result of Covid-19. The aviation and aerospace sectors are being supported with over £12 billion that has been made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF), and grants for research and development.
Thanks to the rollout of the UK's vaccination programme, the Government has been able to relax the rules on our international travel programme. A new system for a safe and sustainable return to travel has been set out, which separates countries into a red list and the rest of the world. On Monday 11 October 2021, England's red list was reduced to just seven countries, with 47 countries coming off the red list.
From 24 October 2021, fully vaccinated passengers with an authorised vaccine and most under 18s arriving in England from countries not on the red list can take a cheaper lateral flow test, instead of a PCR test, on or before Day 2 of their arrival into the UK. They will not need to self-isolate or take a pre-departure or day eight test.
Eligible travellers vaccinated in over 100 countries and territories including Brazil, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey, will not need to self-isolate, nor complete pre-departure testing and day eight testing requirements on arrival to the UK from non-red list countries and territories, like UK vaccinated adults. Anyone who tests positive will need to take a confirmatory PCR test which can be genomically sequenced to help identify new variants.
The Government is focused on fully reopening international travel as soon as it is safe to do so and will further review England's international travel policy in the new year.