SEISS

The portal for applications for the latest round of support under the Self Employment Income Support Scheme is now open. If you were eligible for the first and second grants you may be eligible for this one, even if you did not previously submit a claim. To claim you must have had a new or continuing impact from coronavirus between 1 November 2020 and 29 January 2021. You must believe that this impact will result in a significant reduction in your profits. The grant will be worth 80% of your average monthly trading profits for 3 months up to a maximum payment of £7,500 (£2,500 per month).

Remember that to be eligible your trading profits must be no more than £50,000 and at least equal to your non-trading income. You must make your claim on or before 29 January 2021. Please contact a member of our staff if you need assistance.

Job Retention Bonus

As expected, the Job Retention Bonus has been dropped for the time being. There is a vague implication on the government website that it may return in some slightly different guise in the future but that is probably because they just don't know. The Job Retention Scheme will now continue until the end of March so we are unlikely to see a resurrection of the Bonus until after that.

JRS & SEISS

I think the Chancellor thinks I am short of work! Just when I get to grips with the new rules for furloughing or the self-employment support he decides to change everything again. At least these changes are good news.

The furlough scheme has been extended to the end of March 2020. In the first 3 months of the scheme - November to January - the government will pay 80% of the furloughed employees' wages with the employer only paying the national insurance and pension contributions. For the self-employed the SEISS will pay 80% of average profits for the next 3 months up to a maximum of £7,500. Eligibility rules are as I set out in my most recent posts - at least those haven't changed. Yet!

Office arrangements

The introduction of the new tiered system of controls for coronavirus means all of us are, once again, working almost entirely from home. Only 2 of our staff live in Stirling district and the rest can only travel to Stirling for essential purposes. The office is therefore closed but you can still phone on our main office number between 9am and 5pm Monday to Thursday. Outside those hours, and indeed during them, you can contact us by email and we will get back to you at the earliest opportunity.

If you need to deliver something to the office please make an appointment in advance. Staff are sometimes in the office to carry out essential work on site but are not permitted to answer the door except by prior arrangement so please don't turn up on the off-chance.

Job Retention Scheme - November

As previously mentioned in the blog, the JRS will now continue for the month of November. The scheme is back to the generous arrangements of paying 80% of normal wages for time not worked and the employer only pays the NI and pension contributions. Employees can be fully or flexibly furloughed as long as they were on the payroll by 30 October and had been included in an RTI submission by that date. It may also be possible to claim for employees on the payroll in September whose employment had subsequently been terminated if they are now re-employed.

SEISS

It now appears that the support for the self-employed through the SEISS is to be enhanced for the month of November at least. Originally the grant would have amounted to 40% of average profits for the 3 month period to end January. Now it will be 80% of profits for November and 40% for the remaining 2 months. It will also be paid earlier, probably around the start of December.

I am slightly concerned about the Treasury's sums. A spokesperson said that this revised support resulted in a grant of 55% for the 3 months - I actually make it between 53% and 54% but who's counting? The maximum grant will be just over £5,000.

Job Retention Scheme - not dead yet

Just as we thought the JRS was dead and buried and the new Job Support Scheme was about to go live the Prime Minister decides that England needs to go back into lockdown and the JRS will live on for another month (at least?). The scheme appears to have reverted to the August version when employers only pay the national insurance and pension costs and the government picks up the 80% of wages to be paid up to the monthly maximum. Some of the guidance is somewhat contradictory but it seems as though the other rules remain the same - only those already furloughed can be furloughed now, part-time furloughing is acceptable, and the maximum number of employees on furlough is still the same as before.

We'll get to grips with the claim details in the coming days and will keep you up to date. No news yet on whether the planned changes to the SEISS scheme for the self-employed will be enhanced or extended - fingers crossed.