The latest information about the furlough scheme, as revealed by the Chancellor in today's Budget, showed that the scheme will now continue till the end of September. Also, the self-employed income support scheme has been redesigned to add new 600,000 self-employed people to the list of beneficiaries.

On Tuesday night, the news about the extension of the furlough scheme, and the self-employed income support scheme was announced by the government ahead of today's Budget. The announcement came with every piece of information you need to have about the two coronavirus income support schemes. And together with this, we have also provided other information as regards everything you should know about the furlough scheme.

The furlough scheme, which is also known as the coronavirus job retention scheme, was initiated by the UK government to help workers and businesses who have suffered financially due to the impact of Covid-19 on the economy. The scheme ensures that workers get part of their usual income from the government. If you would recall, this is not the first time the furlough scheme will be extended. In fact, it had already been reported that the scheme would close at the end of April, only for it to be extended until the end of September. While this has happened, the following are the things you should know about the new development:

  • While beneficiaries will benefit from the furlough scheme until the end of September, employers would be contributing more to this starting from July, as the government plans to wind down its commitment starting from the said time.
  • The furlough scheme allows furloughed employees to keep getting up to 80% of their usual salary until the end of the scheme in September. With this scheme, the highest a worker can get per Month is £2,500.
  • Since the government plans to reduce its commitment to the scheme starting from July, it means the government will be solely responsible for the payment of 80% of workers' wages till June 30. But employers are the ones to be responsible for employer pension and national insurance contributions. However, starting from July, the state will only pay 70% of workers' wages in July, and 60% of workers' wages in August and September. This means employers are the ones to pay the remaining 10% of workers' wages in July, and 20% in August and September.
  • While you can give 100% furlough to your employees, they can still work part-time. The latter allows employers to furlough their employees only for hours they are not working for them. However, as an employer, your employees should get the normal rates for the hours they are working for you.

There's a fifth grant for self-employed people - and the income support scheme will cover more self-employed people.

The Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has received a huge boost, as the scheme has now been extended to accommodate more people. This means those who were once considered ineligible when the scheme started will now benefit from it.  The following are the important details about the new development:

  • Self-employed people will only get 80% of their trading profits for three months, and the highest they can get is £7,500. This information is basically for the fourth SEISS grant, and the grant is for February, March, and April. Although we don't know how the government intends to calculate the trading profits for each business for the period of three months, you can keep checking our page for more info.
  • Although the actual date hasn't been reported, we can tell you the submission of applications for the fourth SEISS grant will start in April.
  • In a bid to integrate about 3 million estimated self-employed people who are yet to benefit from this scheme, about 600, 000 self-employed people will benefit from the next SEISS grant. Most people couldn't apply because of the strict eligibility criteria given by the government, but this has been widened to accommodate more people. For instance, unlike before, you are now eligible if you've filed a tax return for 2019/2020.
  • The fifth SEISS grant, as announced by the government, will start in May and run until September. The government intends to use the change in turnover for the said period to determine the worth of the grant.

With this, only those who have recorded a decrease of 30% or more in their turnovers from May to September will get the full grant, which is about £7,500 at the highest.

 And for those who have recorded less than a 30% decrease in turnovers, the worth of their grant will be determined by calculating 30% of their trading profits for the period of three months.

For those in this category, the highest they can get is £2, 850.

Although the government is yet to release more info as to how the calculation will be done, we can tell you that you will be able to get the fifth SEISS grant starting from July. If you wish to keep getting up-to-date info about this, we recommend that you keep checking this website.