The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has delivered his third major statement to the House of Commons in less than a month. This followed the Winter Economy Plan on 24 September and further announcements on 9 October that expanded the scope of the Job Support Scheme and introduced new grants for businesses forced to close because of local or national lockdown measures.<\/p>\n
In his third statement delivered on 22 October, the Chancellor has significantly revised previously announced measures to help protect jobs across the UK whilst the country faces a fresh spike of the virus and a winter of uncertainty.<\/p>\n
These measures are intended to offer increased support through the existing Job Support and self-employed schemes and to expand the availability of business grants to support companies in Tier 2 areas of England.<\/p>\n
1. Job Support Scheme<\/strong><\/p>\n Under the original terms of the Job Support Scheme, due to start on 1 November 2020, employees would have had to work at least one-third of their hours, paid as normal, in order to qualify. The government and employer would then each have covered one-third of any remaining hours the employee is not working.<\/p>\n Under the revised scheme announced today, the employer contribution to those unworked hours has been reduced to just 5% (from 33%), and the minimum hours requirements for staff has been reduced to 20% (from 33%). The Government will now fund up to 61.67% of wages for hours not worked, up to a maximum payment to £1,541.75 per employee.<\/p>\n These changes mean an employee will need to work just one day a week to be eligible for the scheme. The use of the scheme will be available to businesses in all alert levels.<\/p>\n The previously announced Job Retention Bonus, allowing qualifying businesses to claim a £1,000 for each CJRS participating employee, will remain. Employers can claim both the Job Retention Bonus and funding through the Job Support Scheme.<\/p>\n The Job Support Scheme will replace the existing Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) which ends on 31 October.<\/p>\n 2. Self-Employment Income Support Scheme Grant Extension<\/strong><\/p>\n The Chancellor also announced that the grants for the self-employed are to be doubled to 40% (from 20%) of previous qualifying earnings.<\/p>\n The initial lump sum will cover three months of profits from 1 November 2020 calculated as 40% of average monthly profits, up to a maximum total of £3,750. <\/p>\n The extended scheme will apply for 6 months from 1 November 2020 with an initial taxable grant made available to those who continue to trade and meet the eligibility requirements.<\/p>\n An additional second grant will be available from 1 February 2021 to 30 April 2021. The level of this second grant amount is subject to review and will be set in due course.<\/p>\n 3. Business grants<\/strong><\/p>\n The Chancellor also announced an extension to the business grant measures previously announced for businesses in England that are forced to shut as a result of lockdown measures.<\/p>\n This extension to the scheme could benefit some 150,000 businesses in the hospitality, accommodation and leisure sector who are not legally closed but who are severely impacted by Tier 2 restrictions in England. These grants can be backdated to August in affected areas.<\/p>\n These businesses will be eligible for cash grants of up to £2,100 per month. The grant figures are based on 70% of the grant amounts (up to £3,000) provided to businesses that are closed. <\/p>\n The amount affected businesses will be able to claim from their local authority depends on their rateable value:<\/p>\n It will be up to Local Authorities to decide exactly which businesses are eligible to receive the grants. Local Authorities will also receive a 5% top up to help other affected businesses.<\/p>\n The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has delivered his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n