Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Rishi Sunak has mostly ignored small business hit by the pandemic and the struggling self-employed in today’s Spending Review.
The chancellor shrugged off calls for him to cut national insurance and help those self-employed such as company directors who have found themselves excluded from government Covid support.
He did however freeze any increase in business rates when they kick back in again in April. The Treasury estimates that this move will save businesses £575m over the next five years.
Indeed, there was more help for the employee than the employer, as Mr Sunak increased the National Living Wage to £8.91 per hour for those aged over 23 and announced a Restart Scheme to help the newly unemployed.
Jonathan Geldart, director general of the Institute of Directors, welcomes the Restart Scheme but said the chancellor missed a trick by not combining the scheme with a cut to employers’ NI contributions.
>See also: Rishi Sunak urged to help self-employed company directors
Nigel Morris, employment tax director at MHA MacIntyre Hudson, said that Sunak failed to deliver for businesses.
Morris said: “More help for businesses is essential to protect our economy, yet we saw no major support made available for them, for example
Tag Archive for Self-Employed Income Support Scheme
Hot Business News Today
Liverpool launches £9.5m grant fund for ‘excluded’ self-employed
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Liverpool has launched a £9.5m grant fund to specifically help the self-employed in hospitality and leisure excluded from government Covid support.
This includes support for the self-employed, sole traders or the home-based and their supply chains.
The Liverpool self-employed grant fund is the first in England specifically aimed at the “excluded and forgotten” from national support schemes such as the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Businesses based in Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral are eligible for support from the new £9.5m fund.
Last week, Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram wrote to chancellor Rishi Sunak alongside London mayor Sadiq Khan and Manchester mayor Andy Burnham urging him to do something for the 3m self-employed who have found themselves excluded from national support.
It is estimated that there are 3m self-employed excluded from government Covid-19 business support.
Forgotten Limited, the pressure group for small limited company directors affected by the pandemic, said that 70 per cent of its members had not received any government support since the onset of the pandemic in March. Even if they make it to Christmas, 93 per cent doubted their small limited companies would still be trading by Easter.
Mr Rotheram said: “This latest round of
Hot Business News Today
Rishi Sunak ignores small business and self-employed in Spending Review
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Rishi Sunak has mostly ignored small business hit by the pandemic and the struggling self-employed in today’s Spending Review.
The chancellor shrugged off calls for him to cut national insurance and help those self-employed such as company directors who have found themselves excluded from government Covid support.
He did however freeze any increase in business rates when they kick back in again in April. The Treasury estimates that this move will save businesses £575m over the next five years.
Indeed, there was more help for the employee than the employer, as Mr Sunak increased the National Living Wage to £8.91 per hour for those aged over 23 and announced a Restart Scheme to help the newly unemployed.
Jonathan Geldart, director general of the Institute of Directors, welcomes the Restart Scheme but said the chancellor missed a trick by not combining the scheme with a cut to employers’ NI contributions.
>See also: Rishi Sunak urged to help self-employed company directors
Nigel Morris, employment tax director at MHA MacIntyre Hudson, said that Sunak failed to deliver for businesses.
Morris said: “More help for businesses is essential to protect our economy, yet we saw no major support made available for them, for example
Hot Business News Today
Rishi Sunak urged to help self-employed company directors
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Lobbyists, trade associations and experts have joined forces to urge Rishi Sunak to help company directors frozen out of government Covid-19 support.
A consortium of professional bodies has urged the chancellor to consider proposals for a “Directors Income Support Scheme” (DISS), which would mirror the Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) under which sole traders can claim up to £2,500 per month.
This is a last-ditch attempt for the Treasury to change its mind before this week’s Spending Review.
>See also: When and where to apply for the new 80% self-employed grant
Until now the Treasury has balked at helping self-employed directors of limited companies who pay themselves in dividends, claiming it would be too difficult to separate company income from passive income, such as property and shares.
This is despite company directors paying themselves through through dividends being the standard accounting structure used by around 2m small UK limited companies, ranging from those with sole owner directors to micro businesses, which collectively employ 7.5m people.
Some see the Treasury’s mulishness as a disguised attack by HMRC on self-employed company directors, who often pay less into National Insurance and pay corporation tax instead of income tax.
It is estimated that around
Hot Business News Today
City mayors warn of mental health pandemic among self-employed
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Three mayors of England’s biggest cities have written to Rishi Sunak calling him to help the 3m self-employed excluded from Covid business support.
London mayor Sadiq Khan, Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram have urged the chancellor to help those who have fallen through the cracks of the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS).
Otherwise, warned Mr Burnham, England faces “a mental health pandemic on top of Covid”.
>See also: 1m self-employed face having to pay tax bill larger than what they earnt
It is estimated that 10 per cent of the UK workforce have found themselves excluded from Covid-19 support, according to pressure group ExcludedUK.
Mr Burhnam said: “We’re here together to send a message to the chancellor that it’s no exaggeration to say that jobs, homes and marriages are hanging in the balance … this is so wrong on so many levels”.
The Manchester mayor said the government’s cold shoulder for those who have just taken the plunge and gone self-employed, doing just what the government wants, sends the wrong message about becoming an entrepreneur.
Mr Burnham said that there were just days left to get the message across to the chancellor before his government spending
Hot Business News Today
Rishi Sunak urged to help self-employed company directors
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Lobbyists, trade associations and experts have joined forces to urge Rishi Sunak to help company directors frozen out of government Covid-19 support.
A consortium of professional bodies has urged the chancellor to consider proposals for a “Directors Income Support Scheme” (DISS), which would mirror the Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) under which sole traders can claim up to £2,500 per month.
This is a last-ditch attempt for the Treasury to change its mind before this week’s Spending Review.
>See also: When and where to apply for the new 80% self-employed grant
Until now the Treasury has balked at helping self-employed directors of limited companies who pay themselves in dividends, claiming it would be too difficult to separate company income from passive income, such as property and shares.
This is despite company directors paying themselves through through dividends being the standard accounting structure used by around 2m small UK limited companies, ranging from those with sole owner directors to micro businesses, which collectively employ 7.5m people.
Some see the Treasury’s mulishness as a disguised attack by HMRC on self-employed company directors, who often pay less into National Insurance and pay corporation tax instead of income tax.
It is estimated that around
Hot Business News Today
City mayors warn of mental health pandemic among self-employed
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Three mayors of England’s biggest cities have written to Rishi Sunak calling him to help the 3m self-employed excluded from Covid business support.
London mayor Sadiq Khan, Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram have urged the chancellor to help those who have fallen through the cracks of the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS).
Otherwise, warned Mr Burnham, England faces “a mental health pandemic on top of Covid”.
>See also: 1m self-employed face having to pay tax bill larger than what they earnt
It is estimated that 10 per cent of the UK workforce have found themselves excluded from Covid-19 support, according to pressure group ExcludedUK.
Mr Burhnam said: “We’re here together to send a message to the chancellor that it’s no exaggeration to say that jobs, homes and marriages are hanging in the balance … this is so wrong on so many levels”.
The Manchester mayor said the government’s cold shoulder for those who have just taken the plunge and gone self-employed, doing just what the government wants, sends the wrong message about becoming an entrepreneur.
Mr Burnham said that there were just days left to get the message across to the chancellor before his government spending
Hot Business News Today
When and where to apply for the new 80% self-employed grant
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak has announced that the third self-employed income support grant covering November to January will increase to 80 per cent of profits.
The next self-employed grant will be capped at £7,500 per person, based on average trading profits.
The online service for the next self-employed grant will be available from November 30 through the GOV.UK website.
>See also: Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) to be doubled for November
The self-employed grant is taxable income and also subject to National Insurance contributions.
The government has already announced there will be a fourth grant covering February to April 2021, the level of which has yet to be announced.
Universal Credit U-turn
The government has also extended the suspension of the Minimum Income Floor, a rule within the universal credit system which capped payments to self-employed workers to the equivalent of what you’re given if you are working full-time on minimum wage but still claiming.
The Treasury said that the cost of support for the self-employed would be up to £7.3bn, £2.8bn of which was new money announced for the third self-employed grant.
Who’s still excluded from the self-employed grant
However, swathes of the self-employed – calculated to be 690,000 people – are still excluded
Hot Business News Today
When and where to apply for the new 80% self-employed grant
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Rishi Sunak has announced that the third self-employed income support grant covering November to January will increase to 80 per cent of profits.
The next self-employed grant will be capped at £7,500 per person, based on average trading profits.
The online service for the next self-employed grant will be available from November 30 through the GOV.UK website.
>See also: Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) to be doubled for November
The self-employed grant is taxable income and also subject to National Insurance contributions.
The government has already announced there will be a fourth grant covering February to April 2021, the level of which has yet to be announced.
Universal Credit U-turn
The government has also extended the suspension of the Minimum Income Floor, a rule within the universal credit system which capped payments to self-employed workers to the equivalent of what you’re given if you are working full-time on minimum wage but still claiming.
The Treasury said that the cost of support for the self-employed would be up to £7.3bn, £2.8bn of which was new money announced for the third self-employed grant.
Who’s still excluded from the self-employed grant
However, swathes of the self-employed – calculated to be 690,000 people – are still excluded
Hot Business News Today
Nearly half a million self-employed face having universal credit cut
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Nearly half a million self-employed people claiming universal credit face having their payments cut next month.
The government is on course to reinstate rules aligning self-employed universal credit payments with those of full-time workers on the minimum wage.
This is despite the government promising to suspend the cap – or “minimum income floor” (MIF) – for self-employed universal credit claimants “for the duration” of the Covid pandemic.
>See also: 1m self-employed face having to pay tax bill larger than what they earnt
Government officials told the Times that the MIF is set to be reinstated on November 13. However, no decision has been taken yet.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies has estimated that the MIF affects about 450,000 households who would lose an average of £3,200 a year by treating them the same as full-time employees on the minimum wage.
Stephen Timms, Labour chairman of the Commons welfare committee, told the newspaper: “The suspension of the minimum income floor should be extended, as the government said it would be, for the duration of the pandemic. Its re-imposition just when the effects of coronavirus are getting worse will be a heavy blow to many self-employed people, currently struggling to keep