What was announced today by Rishi Sunak?

New announcements for the Covid-19 support for freelancers and self-employed was announced today by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak. But what does this really mean for the 5 million+ freelancers in the UK.

  • Taxable grant-based of 80% of average profits for 3 years
  • Maximum of up to £2500 a month, backdated for 3 months
  • Paid in single lump sum
  • Paid in June 2020 but the will try to do faster
  • You can still work
  • Available provisionally for 3 months for those with annual trading profits up to £50,000
  • Majority of income from must come from self-employment (over 50%)
  • Must have a tax return from 2019 as self-employed
  • HMRC will contact you directly and ask you to fill out an online form
  • Grants paid directly to your bank account
  • Anyone who missed the filing deadline in January get a 4-week extension
  • Can access business interruption loans
  • Self-assessment income tax payments can be deferred to Jan 2020
  • Access to Universal credit in full, meaning welfare support of up to £1800 per month for a self-employed person with two children and living with an unemployed partner.

Those who have just gone freelance will not be eligible, yet the Government claims that 95% of self-employed will be covered. We will try and look further into this statistic to see how much validity lies in it.

Why has it been so hard to help the self-employed?

Self-employment covers 5 million people, but they often fluctuate between employment and self-employment. Something we have seen with Othership across our many members. Of this 5 million 1 million come in and out of self-employment in any 1 year, which is partly why we believe that this package covering 95% of the self-employed may be extremely exaggerated.

Where can I go to find more on Covid-19 support for freelancers and self-employed?

As a membership & community, we are putting a number of high-quality events online. Some of these will be reviewing the economic challenges and financial tips to get you through, while others will be more social-based as struggle with this period of isolation. You can also read more directly at the UK Government website where they provide regular updates for businesses, employees, and the self-employed.

And to make things really easy for you we have made this downloadable content that quickly summarises all the different financial support mechanisms available from the UK Government.

Download summary

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