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Response to second stage of self-employed support

Yesterday, 17^th August, applications opened for the second stage of the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS). However, thousands of self-employed people will miss out on support from Government.

Back in June the Treasury Select Committee published a report calling on Ministers to plug the gaps in the scheme as one million people fell through the cracks. In the report, the Committee recognise that hundreds of thousands of people are suffering financial hardship through no fault of their own.

Responding, Kate Dearden, Head of Research, Policy and External Relations at Community, said:

“We welcome that the Government took the decision months ago to extend the SEISS. However, there remain a significant proportion of self-employed people who cannot access this second wave of support. Whether that be the newly self-employed, Directors of Limited Companies or those earning over 50,000 a year, as well as other groups who have had support reduced.

“Self-employed people will still be struggling as a result of the ongoing pandemic and will likely still be seeing a negative impact on their businesses.”

“This marks the sixth month that thousands of self-employed people across the UK will have been left with no support from Government. For many of those people, the situation will now have become desperate and Government must intervene and provide targeted income support to those thousands of self-employed people who desperately need it.”

Community is the collective voice for the self-employed. Join us here.

You can read our response to the announcement of the extension here and to the Treasury Committee report here.

Access the second stage of the SEISS here.