Chancellor Rishi Sunak has dashed hopes that self-employed agents and others who missed out on government support schemes would get government help.
The Chancellor made no mention of the 2.9 million people excluded from Covid support schemes in his recent Spending Review.
The people excluded include self-employed agents deemed ineligible for the government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Many were judged to not have been self-employed for long enough – such as those made redundant from a previous full-time role and who then set up businesses after 6 April 2019 and so could not provide the 2018-19 tax return demanded by the government.
Those with a PAYE/self-employment mix are also excluded from the SEISS support if less than 50% of their income comes from self-employment.
Others have been denied aid because their income fell over the £50,000 threshold – a cap that does not exist on the PAYE furlough scheme.
