Help was initially given as one lump-sum payment to cover three months. Over the summer a “second and final” payment was announced covering 70% of profits, up to a cap of £2,190 per month for another three months – £6,570 in total. It proved not to be the final payment, but the second of four. The third, (not so final), payment covered 80% of profits for November, December and January, up to a total limit of £7,500 – paid in a single instalment. Applications for this grant have now closed.
But despite his announcement of an estimated 600,000 self-employed workers now being able to claim money, the reality will be very different. It’s unusual for a business to make Any profit in it’s first year, so baring that in mind, if you are a self-employed small business owner who made no profit in 2019-2020 you’ll get 80% of that profit…which is still nothing. See the flaw?
Unfortunately it continues to show a clear lack of understanding and focus on small business in the UK and the hugely important role they have for the British economy, generating around 40% of GDP. And as larger businesses, especially on the High Street, have collapsed it will be those same businesses that perhaps were treated as an afterthought, that will get the UK economy back on its feet again.