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Mon 26th Oct 2020

This week Rishi Sunak delivered his third major statement following the Winter Economy Plan from September. In the statement the Chancellor revised the previously announced measures that would help protect jobs across the country.

The measures announced are intended to offer an increase in support through the existing Job Support and self-employed schemes and expand the availability of business grants to support businesses in Tier 2 areas of England.

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme Grant Extension

The Chancellor announced that the grants for the self-employed are to be

doubled from 20% to 40% of previous earnings, increasing the maximumgrant to £3,750, with an initial lump sum will cover 3 months of profits from1st November 2020. The extended scheme will apply for 6 months from 1stNovember with an initial taxable grant available to those who continue totrade.

Business Grants

There will be an extension to the business grant measures for businesses

in England that are forced to shut down as a result of lockdown measures.

The scheme could benefit up to 150,000 businesses in the hospitality,

leisure and accommodation sector who are not legally closed but who havebeen significantly impacted by Tier 2 restrictions. This has happenedfollowing businesses stating that they would be better off if they were undertier three restrictions. They argued that although they would be forced toclose, they would benefit from greater government support.

The amount affected businesses will be able to claim from their local

authority depends on their rateable value with deciding factors includingthe size of the business.

The scheme will, as before, be open to all small businesses and larger businesses that can show an impact on revenues.

It is aimed at addressing the gap in support for businesses in tier two restrictions, such as London and Birmingham, but is not explicitly tied to that status, and is available across the UK.

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