The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

This will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) who have lost income due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

This scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your average trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months. This may be extended if needed. The grant will be subject to Income Tax and National Insurance contributions but does not need to be repaid.

You can make a claim for Universal Credit while you wait for the grant, but any grant received will be treated as part of your self-employment income and may affect the amount of Universal Credit you get. Any Universal Credit claims for earlier periods will not be affected.

If you receive the grant you can continue to work or take on other employment including voluntary work.

If you have other employment as a director or employee which is paid through PAYE your employer may be able to get support using the Job Retention Scheme see above.

There are very specific rules about how long you have been trading.  Please visit  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme

In summary

You can claim if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and you:

• you traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
• you traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
• you intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
• you carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by coronavirus