Second SEISS grant
Don’t forget to apply for the second Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant, if your business has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 crisis on or after 14 July. Applications will close on 19 October 2020, so don’t delay!
You will be eligible to claim this grant if all of the following apply:
- You started your business before 6 April 2019
- You submitted your 2018/19 tax return by 23 April 2020
- Your annual average self-employed profits for 2016/17 to 2018/19 didn’t exceed £50,000
- Your self-employed profits make up at least half of your annual average income for the three years to 2018/19
The three-month grant will be paid at the rate of 70% of your average annual profits for 2016/17 to 2018/19, capped at £6,570 for the three-month period.
If you missed applying for the first SEISS grant between 13 May and 13 July 2020, you can still apply for this second grant. Unfortunately, we can’t apply for the grant on your behalf, you need to do this personally.
Go to the gov.uk website and search for “claim SEISS” - it should be the top result. You will need your:
- National Insurance number
- Self-assessment UTR number
- Government gateway ID and password (this can be applied for at stage 1 of the grant application)
- Bank account number and sort code for the account you want the grant paid into.
The “adversely affected” condition is not as difficult to meet as it sounds, as any of the following would allow your business to qualify, if they occurred as a result of coronavirus:
- You or your staff were unable to work
- You had fewer customers
- You lost one or more contracts
- Your supply chain was interrupted
- You incurred additional costs
You can still claim the SEISS grant even if your business recovers after the above difficulties have been experienced. Note also that you don’t have to quantify what your lost profits are, as the grant calculation is based on previous years’ profits.
On 24 September, the Chancellor indicated that further grants will be made available to the self-employed, but these will be much less generous, as noted in New Business-Support Measures.