Chancellor Rishi Sunak has just unveiled new measures
has been set out by chancellor Rishi Sunak. It comes after warnings from self-employed people in the UK that they simply cannot live off the current benefit of £94.25 a week, equivalent to statutory sick pay.In the daily news briefing on BBC One at 5pm, Sunak announced the government's intention to match the 80% salary support given to Pay As You Earn . This will be calculated using average monthly profits over last three financial years but will be capped at £2,500 per month.
The new taxable grant will be available for three months and Sunak says will be extended if research shows it needs to be. It's open to people whose businesses have trading profits of up to £50,000 and only those who have a self-assessment tax return from 2019 can apply. More than that, it is only open to those whose self-employed work makes up the majority of their income.
Those eligible will be contacted by HMRC directly. In the mean time, self-employed people can now access universal credit in full . In order to help those who have not yet filed their 2019 tax return, Sunak says the government has extended the deadline for tax returns by four weeks from now so as many people as possible can benefit from the scheme.
However, Sunak confirmed people in desperate circumstances can apply for an advanced universal credit payment and receive it 'almost immediately after the claim' or 'certainly within days' so they do not have to wait for the usual time of five weeks, as people who apply for universal credit normally do.
‘For many people that have seen their businesses disappear in the blink of an eye, things like statutory sick pay or universal credit just isn't enough,’ Dr Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce told the BBC’s Today Programme this morning. ‘It doesn't need to be perfect - we just need a system in place.’
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