Self-employment Income Support Scheme

(asked on 2nd February 2021) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) practitioners in personal care services and (b) other self-employed workers in different occupations that are unable to access the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 9th February 2021

The Government recognises the impact that the pandemic is having on businesses and individuals across the country. That is why it has provided £280 billion of support to safeguard jobs and to protect the economy. As part of those efforts the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has been successful in providing £13.7 billion of support to the self-employed. People who are ineligible for the SEISS, including practitioners in personal care services and affected business owners in the sector, may be eligible for the wide range of other support schemes available including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, Government-backed loans (such as Bounce Back Loans), VAT deferrals, business grants, the £20 per week uplift in Universal Credit, and Local Authority Hardship Funds to help with council tax payments.

In addition, the Devolved Administrations have been provided with £16.8 billion of funding to allow them to design their own support schemes.

The Government estimates that 1,668,000 individuals may be ineligible for the SEISS across all sectors, including personal care. These figures include individuals who have been assessed to be ineligible for the SEISS for any reason. For example, they may earn the majority of their income from PAYE employment (and so may be eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme), or they may have average trading profits of over £50,000. Further information can be found in Table 3 in the following document: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/955944/SEISS_-_Official_statistics_tables_January_2021.ods.

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