Self-Employment Income Support Scheme – SEISS
From 17 August the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme will open for claims for a second and final grant. You will be able to claim at any time from 17 August until the scheme closes on 19 October. You will not be able to access the service online or over the phone before this date.
The eligibility criteria for the second grant is exactly the same as the first – so self-employed people who were eligible for the first SEISS grant will be eligible for the second grant, so long as their business has been adversely affected since 14 July 2020. This typically means that their business has experienced lower income and / or higher costs because of coronavirus (COVID-19) since 14 July. There is no minimum threshold over which a business’s income, costs or activity need to have changed by, but you need to keep appropriate records as evidence of how the business has been adversely affected.
HMRC guidance including examples of when you would be adversely affected can be found here.
The second taxable grant is worth 70% of average monthly trading profits, a reduction from the 80% available under the first grant. This will be paid out in a single instalment and will be based on three months’ worth of trading profits and capped at a maximum of £6,570. Once people have completed a claim, they will receive payment within 6 working days.