Coronavirus poses a threat to many workers’ livelihoods. Whether you are a salaried, fixed contract, zero-hours contract, or self-employed worker, your situation may change rapidly without a lot of warning.
On the 3rd of March 2021, the government announced a further extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), also known as the “furlough scheme”, until the 30th September 2021.
Its aim is to avoid redundancies, and the scheme can offer grants of up to 80% of an employee’s wage for all employment costs, up to a cap of £2,500 per month.
If the business you work for applies for CJRS, they will designate some or all of their employees as ‘furloughed workers,’ and will need to notify employees of this change in writing.
If your employer tries to change the terms of your contract or any other status of your employment while designating you a ‘furloughed worker’ please contact us immediately.
Other questions you might have:
You can find our 9 amendment demands for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme here.
Self Employed Income Support Scheme
The Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) is meant to provide grants for self-employed people for up to 80% of their average monthly earnings over the past three years up to £2,500 a month. You are able to apply for the grant while you continue working.
The government announced it’s third SEISS instalment for profits lost in November 2020 on November 5.
The government explained that the self-employed are “a diverse population” with different profits, and so the scheme will be open to anyone with all of the following:
- Trading profits of less than £50,000 a year;
- People who make their majority of income from being self-employed
- Have a self-employed tax return from 2019
You can access the grant by filling out a form through HMRC.