Millions of self-employed individuals have been eligible to receive direct cash grants through the government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), to help them during the coronavirus outbreak.

There are four opportunities to receive a grant under the SEISS, although the deadlines for the first two parts have now passed.

For parts three and four, the government says it will provide two taxable grants to support those experiencing reduced demand due to Covid-19 but are continuing to trade, or temporarily cannot trade. Payments will be available to anyone who was previously eligible for the SEISS grant one and grant two, and meets the eligibility criteria.

Grants will be paid in two lump sum instalments each covering three months. The part 3 grant will cover a three-month period from the start of November 2020 until the end of January 2021. The government will pay a taxable grant which is calculated based on 40% of three months’ average trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £3,750.

The part 4 grant will cover a three-month period from the start of February until the end of April 2021. The government will review the level of the second grant and set this in due course.

Business grants

The Chancellor has also announced approved additional funding to support cash grants of up to £2,100 per month primarily for businesses in the hospitality, accommodation and leisure sector who may be adversely impacted by the restrictions in high-alert level areas. These grants will be available retrospectively for areas that have already been subject to restrictions, and come on top of higher levels of additional business support for Local Authorities moving into Tier 3 which, if scaled up across the country, would be worth more than £1 billion.

These grants could benefit around 150,000 businesses in England, including hotels, restaurants, B&Bs and many more who aren’t legally required to close but have been adversely affected by local restrictions nonetheless.