Whether it will make additional financial assistance available to self-employed people who remain unable to work due to COVID-19 restrictio…

The Self Employed Income Support Scheme is a UK Government scheme and applications for the second and final grant are now open. Eligible businesses that have been adversely affected on or after 14 July 2020 can make a claim for the second grant on or before 19 October 2020. Although we welcome the UK Government’s SEISS because it will provide much needed support for many self-employed people in Scotland, we recognise that some self-employed people will fall outside of the eligibility of the scheme. We have called on the UK Government to extend the scheme to end the uncertainty for self-employed people and ensure that they are not left behind in the ongoing response to this crisis. The continuation of the scheme will be crucial for self-employed people to comply with the self-isolation requirements of Test and Protect. The Scottish Government has already and will continue to provide a range of targeted funding supports which can be found at findbusinesssupport.gov.scot