Chancellor's Announcement: Plan for Jobs

In response to the increasing prevalence of tighter local restrictions at a local level in recent weeks, the Chancellor has announced revisions to support measures available to workers over the coming months as part of the government’s ‘Plan for Jobs’.

The update covers three main areas – the Job Support Scheme, the Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Business Grants – details as follows:

Job Support Scheme

The first iteration of the scheme was that the government and employer would pay 33% each of any pay foregone due to a reduction in working hours provided that employee worked at least 33% of their usual hours.

This has now been updated with varying implications depending on what Tier businesses find themselves in – for business that are able to open but with employees on reduced hours the minimum working requirement drops to 20% of usual hours.

Additionally the onus on the employer to pay wages for hours unworked falls from 33% to 5% with the government making up the difference (those worked must still be paid in full by the employer).

For those businesses in Tier 3 that are forced to close, the government will pay 67% of wages foregone with employees being subject to a reduction in wages of 33%.

The scheme is still due to commence from 1 November and the ability to claim the Job Retention Bonus remains unchanged.

Self Employment Income Support Scheme

In his ‘Winter Economy Plan’ back in September the Chancellor announced an extension to support to the self employed for a period covering November to April by way of two taxable grants - the first covering November to January being 20% of three months’ worth of average monthly profits over the 2018, 2019 and 2020 tax years (up to a maximum grant of £1,875) and the second covering February to April with the amount TBC. 

This has been increased from 20% to 40% - therefore the maximum amount available in the first round of claims will be £3,750.

Business Grants

Further support in the way of grants has been announced for businesses in the leisure/hospitality industry in high-alert regions but that are not legally required to close.

Qualifying businesses will be entitled to maximum grants as follows:

• Properties with a rateable value of £15k or under can receive up to £934 per month
• Properties with a rateable value of between £15k and £51k or under can receive up to £1,400 per month
• Properties with a rateable value in excess of £51k can receive up to £2,100 per month
• Businesses under ‘Very High’ measures may qualify for support up to £3,000 per month whether closed or open

The grants are to be administrated, assessed and allocated by local authorities – we have not yet been made aware of the application process however we would advise checking the website of your relevant authority for further information.

We will of course seek to provide further detail and updates on all of these and any other measures as and when we received the information.

If you have any questions regarding this or anything else please get in touch, and for regular updates, announcements and news please check our website (www.dsaprospect.co.uk) and make sure you’re following our LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dsa-prospect-ltd