CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

This information will be updated each week. It will show the date on which it has been updated. For more specific information go to: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus. If you need help, advice or support to navigate your way through this crisis then please call us. You will find all our details under ‘Contact us’ where we have:

a form which you can fill in and send to us

and we have contact details for tCAS@Kingsland and tCAS@Hope under ‘Find Us’ (under Contact us)

27 March 2020

Fear of Eviction/Mortgage repayments

For detailed and specific information and advice See: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/coronavirus

This page is constantly updated by Shelter

Income and benefits

Turn2Us provides updates on the Government’s changes to benefits in response to the coronavirus – see: https://www.turn2us.org.uk/get-support/Benefits-and-Coronavirus-Sickness

Entitledto also provides information on the changes to benefits and how to claim – see: https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Coronavirus_help. They have an easy to use Benefit Calculator

Debt during the Coronavirus period

StepChange is an organisation that deals with debt and provides advice and help. If you are worried about your fiances then look t their page on ‘Debt and Coronavirus’

Paid employees

If you are in that position where your employer has told you that they will pay you your full wage as usual, at least for the next few weeks and you do not usually receive any benefits and your then you will not need to make a claim.

Where other employers are not in a position to meet the costs themselves, you will then be covered by the government’s pledge to cover 80% of wages. This will be claimed by the employers and distributed to staff, so you will not need to do anything yourself. It will be up to employers to decide whether to make up the difference. The money has not yet been paid to companies – the Treasury has said it will be paid out “within weeks”. The payments will last up to three months and will be backdated to 1 March 2020. The maximum payment will be £2,500 a month.

I’ve been told to cut my working hours

The scheme to meet 80% of pay applies only to workers whose jobs have been put on hold fully, but there is an entitlement to “guarantee pay” for those who have had their days cut.

This is worth up to £29 a day but typically the payment is limited to only five days in any three-month period. At the moment no change to this has been announced.

Zero hours contracts

The pledge to meet 80% of wages applies to those who are on PAYE – that is, taxed before they are paid.

It has not been made clear what figure the 80% will be based on. According to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, it could be based on an average of recent weeks’ pay so you are not out of pocket if your last week’s wages were much lower than the previous week’s.

Self employed (taken from: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/03/chancellor-announces-help-for-self-employed/

Self-employed workers will be able to apply for taxable grants worth up to 80% of their average monthly profits to combat loss of income due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Chancellor announced today. But the grants will be capped at £2,500/month and not everyone will be able to claim them – we’ve full details below on who’s eligible, when you’ll get the money and what to try in the meantime if you’re struggling.

Last week the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the Government is to pay 80% of employees’ wages if their employers are struggling, up to a monthly maximum of £2,500. But until now the UK’s five million self-employed workers have been left waiting to hear how they will be supported, beyond boosts to benefits.

Today the Chancellor confirmed that self-employed people across the UK will be able to get an amount equivalent to 80% of their income, based on their average monthly profits – again, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

Grants will start to be paid at the beginning of June, as a taxable lump sum covering March, April and May. And while the scheme’s initially to cover these three months, the Chancellor has said it may be extended.

Sunak added that the measures were expected to apply to about 95% of those who earn the majority of their income from self-employment. But a significant number won’t be able to apply for any support at all from the scheme. This includes those with average annual trading profits (loosely your taxable profits) of £50,000 or more, and those who have become self-employed since April 2019 and so haven’t filed a tax return yet.

Who will be eligible for the scheme?

To apply to the new Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, the following must apply:

You must earn more than half of your total income from self-employment. This must have been the case for either your 2018/19 tax return or the average of your last three years’ tax returns: 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 tax returns (or both).
Your average annual trading profit must be less than £50,000. This is essentially a ‘cliff-edge’ requirement – so those whose average annual trading profit is £50,000 or more won’t be able to get any support from this scheme.

Government guidance says your average annual trading profit will be calculated from either your 2018/19 tax return or the average of your 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 tax returns. It’s not clear from the Government guidance which of these is used if the figures differ though – we’re checking and will update this story when we know for sure.
You must have filed a tax return for 2018/19. This means you must have been self-employed prior to 6 April 2019. If you were due to file a 2018/19 tax return but missed the deadline this year, you’ll have until Sunday 26 April to submit your tax return, after which you can access the scheme.

If you’re a company director and pay yourself a salary or dividends you won’t be covered by this scheme, but you could get support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for employees if you operate pay-as-you-earn schemes.

How much could the grants be worth?

The grants will be worth 80% of your profits, capped at £2,500 a month, based on your tax returns for 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 if you were self-employed over that period.

If you became self-employed after April 2018, your 2018/19 tax return will be used instead. But it’s worth noting that if you only have a few months’ self-employment on your 2018/19 return, this will be counted as your total profit for the year – the Government won’t pro-rata it based on your monthly profits.

How do I apply to the scheme?

Those eligible will be contacted directly by HM Revenue & Customs – the Government hasn’t said when this’ll be, only that it will happen “once the scheme is operational”. At that point you’ll be asked to fill in an online form, and the grant will then be paid directly into your bank account.

There’s no need to contact HMRC now as there’s nothing you can do to apply at this stage. If you believe you’re eligible and don’t hear anything when HMRC does start contacting people, contact it at that stage – we’ll be following the scheme closely and keeping you fully updated. For the very latest see our Coronavirus Financial Help & Rights guide.

I’m not eligible for a grant – what other help is available?

Not all self-employed people can access this help – for example, if you earn £50,000 a year or more. If you’re not eligible unfortunately you won’t be able to claim, but you have other options:

You can apply for a ‘business interruption loan’. The temporary Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme is open to self-employed people and offers access to loans, overdrafts, invoice finance and asset finance of up to £5 million for up to six years.

The Government could also give you a ‘business interruption payment’ to cover the first 12 months of interest and fees on the loan.

The scheme is now open for applications, and is offered by all major banks.
You can defer your income tax payments. If you have income tax payments due in July 2020 under the self-assessment system, you can defer them until January 2021.
You can access universal credit in full. The Government has removed the ‘minimum income floor’ to the universal credit benefit, and will be boosting the standard allowance from Monday 6 April – meaning a single person aged over 25 could get a standard monthly allowance of £409.89.

See your rights if you’re self-employed for more info.

I’m eligible but can’t wait until June – what can I do?

Even if you are eligible for help from this scheme, it’s unlikely you’ll see any cash in your bank account until June at the earliest, which for many will be a struggle.

In the meantime, as above you can try applying for a business interruption loan if eligible, or universal credit (for universal credit, the grant will be treated as earnings – but check if you can apply for support before it comes through).

In addition, it may also be worth using money you have set aside for tax to cover immediate expenses until your grant comes through in June. This especially applies given the July self-assessment tax payment can be deferred until January 2021.

What does the Government say?

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “Self-employed people are a crucial part of the UK’s workforce who have understandably been looking for reassurance and support during this national emergency.

“The package for the self-employed I’ve outlined today is one of the most generous in the world that has been announced so far. It targets support to those who need help most, offering the self-employed the same level of support as those in work.

“Together with support packages for businesses and for workers, I am confident we now have the measures in place to ensure we can get through this emergency together.”

Energy payments (see: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/03/energy-firms-move-to-help-customers-unable-to-top-up-due-to-coro/)

Energy firms are putting in place new measures to help prepayment customers unable to top up during the coronavirus pandemic. We’ve company-by-company info below, but plans include posting cards loaded with emergency credit to those unable to leave home as they need to self-isolate.