Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to bring forward the date of payment of the next Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant; and if he will make a statement.

The fourth Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant will be available to claim from late April.

Grants are now based on 2019-20 tax returns which is the most up to date information HMRC hold for self-employed individuals. As the deadline for 2019-20 tax returns has now passed, HMRC will use these tax returns for the fourth and fifth grants, provided they were submitted by 2 March.

The 2 March cut-off point comes after HMRC gave until 28 February for individuals to file these returns without incurring a late filing penalty. The effect of this is that the Government is now in a position to provide support to hundreds of thousands of newly eligible self-employed individuals.

Using these returns requires time to deliver, due to the increased population and new data. The Government publishes guidance on how to claim the SEISS grants on GOV.UK.