Monthly Archives: August 2020

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Self-Employment Income Support Scheme re-opens

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Originally written by Stephanie Spicer on Small Business
The government has re-opened the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) allowing claimants to apply for a government grant of up to £6,750. The scheme was established to help those self employed workers whose income was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
To date over 2.7 million people have benefitted from the scheme, receiving £7.8bn. For the first grant, self-employed individuals in Scotland have made 155,000 claims totalling £449m; in Wales 108,000 claims for £289m have been made and in Northern Ireland 76,000 claims for £216m have been submitted. In England, 2.2 million claims were made totalling £6.4bn.
The second stage of the scheme means that those eligible will now be able to receive a second and final grant worth 70% of their average monthly trading profits, with the money set to land in their bank accounts within six working days of making a claim. Individuals must earn at least half of their income from self- employment and annual trading profits must not exceed £50,000.
Anyone whose self-employed business has been adversely affected by coronavirus since 14 July is eligible for the scheme.
Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer said: “Our self-employment income support scheme has already helped

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What winning The Start-Up Series meant for me – Zaffrin O’Sullivan, Five Dot Botanics

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Zaffrin O’Sullivan, 41, first had the idea for Five Dot Botanics back in 2017. She wondered why the packaging for skincare products listed impenetrable ingredients at a time when consumers were demanding ingredient transparency in food and cleaning products.
It was not as if O’Sullivan did not have enough to do in her day job as a senior lawyer at the BBC.
Plus O’Sullivan had no beauty industry background, so she partnered with a cosmetic scientist and spent two years designing the brand and a website.
The idea was to create a range of skincare products with only five easily understandable ingredients each. Five Dot Botanics had its first manufacturing run in the spring of 2019 and launched direct to consumer last July. The brand is already stocked in health food chain Holland & Barrett.
O’Sullivan says: “We created it in response to the growing complexity and lack of transparency when it came to skincare. We could see a market opportunity for us to offer a British skincare line that used only minimal plant-based ingredients, tying in with the growing vegan movement. We also knew that beauty was not super inclusive, so wanted the brand to be

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