Benefits

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 5 grant will be available from late July 2021.

A fifth grant covering May 2021 to September 2021 will be open to claims from late July 2021.

The grant is taxable and will be paid out in a single instalment.

Guidance about claiming the grant will be available from early July 2021.

1. Who can claim

To be eligible for the grant you must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership.

1.1 When Self-Employment must have traded

You must have traded in the tax years:

• 2019 to 2020 and submitted your tax return on or before 2 March 2021
• 2020 to 2021

You must either:

• be currently trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus
• have been trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus

1.2 Self-Employment tax returns

To work out your eligibility for the fifth grant, we’ll first look at your 2019 to 2020 Self Assessment tax return. Your trading profits must be no more than £50,000 and at least equal to your non-trading income.

If you’re not eligible based on your 2019 to 2020 tax return, we’ll then look at the tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020.

1.3 Deciding if you can claim

You must declare that:

• you intend to continue to trade
• you reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction in your trading profits due to reduced business activity, capacity, demand or inability to trade due to coronavirus from May 2021 to September 2021

You must keep evidence that shows how your business has been impacted by coronavirus resulting in less business activity than otherwise expected.

HMRC expects you to make an honest assessment about whether you reasonably believe your business will have a significant reduction in profits.

2. How the fifth grant is different

The amount of the fifth grant will be determined by how much your turnover has been reduced in the year April 2020 to April 2021.

We’ll provide more information and support from early July 2021 to help you work out how your turnover was affected.

2.1 How much you’ll get

Turnover reduction	How much you’ll get	Maximum grant
30% or more	80% of 3 months’ average trading profits	£7,500
less than 30%	30% of 3 months’ average trading profits	£2,850

3. When Self-Employment can claim

The online claims service for the fifth grant will be available from late July 2021.

If you’re eligible based on your tax returns, HMRC will contact you from mid-July 2021 to give you a date that you can make your claim from.