Sunak offers self-employed 80pc of monthly profits

LONDON: Self-employed workers will be able to claim support worth 80 per cent of their average monthly profits in an “unprecedented” move to cover the impact of coronavirus, Rishi Sunak has announced.

The Chancellor said the move — worth up to a maximum of £2,500 a month — would cover 95 per cent of self-employed workers. The package comes after the government came under sustained pressure as its initial package of financial support only covered employees.

Sunak said: “To support those who work for themselves, today I am announcing a new self-employed income support scheme. The government will pay self-employed people who have been adversely affected by the coronavirus a taxable grant worth 80 per cent of their average monthly profits over the last three years, up to £2,500 a month.”

In other developments, home tests for people to find out whether they have had coronavirus could be available in a matter of weeks, Public Health England said. Professor Yvonne Doyle, medical director for the organisation, said plans were in place for “a million tests that people can do themselves”.

Downing Street said the UK had become the largest contributor to the international coalition to find a coronavirus vaccine after donating £210 million in new aid funding. No10 also indicated that additional coronavirus field hospitals are being considered around the UK. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said 500 of the additional 4,000 beds created in the NHS Nightingale Hospital being set up in London’s ExCeL centre will be available for use next week.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson had previously warned that the self-employed may not be able to get through the coronavirus crisis “without any kind of hardship at all”. But Johnson said he wanted to get “parity of support” so the self-employed could have similar levels of protection to waged workers. Sunak set out plans for 80 per cent wage subsidies for PAYE employees last week.