RYA welcomes support for self-employed individuals

by Loretta Spridgeon, RYA 27 Mar 2020 12:30 PDT

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a UK-wide scheme giving direct cash grants to self-employed individuals. If you are eligible the Government will contact you and ask you to apply online.

Details of the package are as follows: -

• A grant of up to £2,500 per month for the next 3 months calculated on 80% of average monthly trading profits over the last three years
• The scheme is open to those with trading profit of less than £50,000 in 2018/19 or an average trading profit of less than £50K in 16/17, 17/18 and 18/19. Half of the income in these periods must come from self-employment.
• The grant will be paid direct to banks in one lump sum covering the three month period at the beginning of June.

Many Instructors, coaches and others in the RYA community who are self-employed should benefit from this scheme. You do not need to take any action at this stage, HMRC will identify eligible taxpayers and contact them directly with guidance about how to apply using an online form.

Anyone who did not submit an 18/19 tax return by 31 January this year will be given a four week window to submit via the HMRC website self-assessment page.

In his announcement, the Chancellor referred to self-employed people being able to continue to work whilst in receipt of the package, however, the guidance itself refers to "intending to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21". We are therefore seeking clarification from Government on the issue of ability to continue to work whilst in receipt of the package.

Unfortunately the package does not extend to individuals who have only recently become self-employed i.e. not able to file a tax return for 2018/2019. If you find yourself in that position, we would like to hear from you in order that we may assess the extent of the shortfall with a view to lobby Government.

These latest measures bring parity with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, announced by the Chancellor last week, where the Government committed to pay up to £2,500 each month in wages of employed workers who are furloughed during the outbreak.

The RYA is continuing to monitor the coronavirus outbreak carefully. As the situation develops, please be reassured that our primary concern is the health of our members, affiliated clubs, classes, recognised training centres (RTCs), instructors, coaches and volunteers. Our thoughts are with our entire network during these challenging times.

Keep an eye on our Coronavirus hub for the latest updates and guidance and if you have any queries, please contact us on 023 8060 4100.