Today we’ve had more information on the 3rd SEISS payment as well as other support information as we head into winter and the COVID-19 pandemic continues to flex it’s muscles.
All In This Together?
Firstly, the wording of the government’s literature angers me. A tweet from Rishi Sunak contained the phrase “significant increase in the generosity”. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we’re the ones who are going to be paying for this in the long run. The government works for us, they seem to forget this. We’re all going to be hit with higher taxes in order to cover all this money for support and as such, as should all have access to equal support. Unfortunately, the excluded, who I have always mentioned in this blog posts, unlike the chancellor who continue to ignore them, are still being ignored and unsupported.
As much as the government say they are supporting us, they’re still taking pay rises and wasting money in things which haven’t worked. They also voted against extending the free school meals scheme for poor kids over the holidays. Meaning there will be hungry children in England during the school holidays. Of course, they’ll still claim expenses for their own food and drink but kids are fine to go hungry. It’s something that shouldn’t even need debating, children deserve to be looked after and this government is failing them. It is plainly obvious to me that we are not in this together.
Fair & Equal?
The support continues as the government have failed to win the fight against Coronavirus. The support should continue, as we’re all suffering from strange times. The Open Job Support Scheme (OJSS) will ensure employees now take home at least 73% of their pay, as long as they work 20% of their hours. So if you work one day a week out of your usual five, you’re guaranteed get 73% of your pay. This means the government now pays at least 62% for hours not worked and the employer contribution has been slashed from 33% to just 5%. It seems like quite a good deal for both employees and employers.
There has been a changed in the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) too. We knew there was going to be a 3rd SEISS payment and apparently there will be further ones in 2021. The ‘big news’ that Rishi announced today was an increase from 20%, doubling up to 40% for the self employed. This sounds wonderful, but when you start looking at it it’s actually not great. It should never have been 20% in the first place. The first payment was 80%, then 70%. The pandemic is ongoing and there are local lockdowns happening all around the country with the tier 1, 2 & 3 system in place. Dropping to 20% would have been a joke, but even 40% is a huge drop. There was still no support for September & October.
Parity?
There is no parity between the two schemes. The ‘Rethink. Reskill. Reboot.’ advert that the government put out got an absolute thrashing. Making those who work in the arts and other such areas feel like second class citizens. The self employed and freelance community has been called the backbone of British business previously, for us to be suddenly chucked aside like nothing. The 3rd SEISS Payment is nowhere near the OJSS and Rishi and the government know it.
Updates
Update 02/11/2020 – November will be 80%, January & February 40%. Working out at about 55% across the three months.
Update 05/11/2020 – SEISS will now be 80% of trading profits. Excluded still excluded.
Update 25/11/2020 – applications will open on Monday 30th November and will over 1st November 2020 – 31st January 2021. Grants 1 & 2 you had to declare that you had been “adversely affected”. Grant 3 has new wording and you have to say that you will have “significant reduction” in profits to claim. The two reasons for this are “reduced demand, activity or capacity” or being temporarily unable to trade. This will likely mean less people will apply as the restrictions seem much tighter.
