Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to extend the (1) Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and (2) Self-employment Income Support Scheme, to artists and others in the creative industries who rely on a mixture of self-employed income and zero-hours or fixed-term contracts.

It is possible for individuals to benefit from both the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) if they meet the individual criteria for both. For the CJRS, this will depend on furloughing decisions by the employer. Furloughed employees must have been employed on 19 March 2020 and on their employer’s PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020, and can be on any type of employment contract, including: full-time employees, part-time employees, agency, fixed-term, flexible or zero hour contracts.

For the SEISS, it will depend on whether an individual has at least 50% of their total income from trading profits in either 2018/19, or an average of the (up to) three years between 2016/17 and 2018/19. Further details can be found on GOV.UK guidance.