On Thursday 26 March, the chancellor announced new measures to help the self employed (sole traders / partners in a partnership) during the coronavirus crisis.

This post tells you the support available and how to apply.

Support available for self employed

1. A taxable grant of 80% of average monthly profits over the past three years. This is a positive if you have been declaring a high level of profit over the past three years in your self assessments.
2. Capped at £2,500 per month and initially payable for 3 months.
3. Applies to self-employed individuals with trading profits up to £50,000 per year whose majority of income comes from being self-employed. Therefore this does not include people in employment who have a small side business as a sole trader.

Note that company directors are employees for PAYE purposes and not self employed.

To qualify, you need to have submitted your self assessment for 2018/19 by 23 April 2020. So anyone who is late with their self assessment needs to take action before 23 April.

As of 28 March, HMRC have said that self employed people cannot apply for this scheme yet, and that they will contact you if you are eligible and invite you to apply online.

It’s worth keeping an eye out on the HMRC website relating to help for businesses during the coronavirus crisis: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses#support-for-self-employed-through-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme