Self employed plumber coronavirus

scormack

Self employed for 25+years. Jobs drying up during this coronavirus lockdown. What can I claim to help my wage loss? See employers can pay staff but I have no staff just me? Help please. 

justwhat

uc / wtc or the new interest free loan . and that's about it i think. You will get no help currently if you have commercial premises. Dip into those savings if you have them. 

calcotti

You can claim UC (unless you are over the savings limit of £16,000). https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/

There are benefit calculators here https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators. You can use these to assess your likely entitlement. (I doubt these will be completely up to date as I they probably haven't been altered to reflect yesterday's announcement about changes to the standard allowances). 

justwhat said:

You will get no help currently if you have commercial premises. 

Having commercial premises will not exclude you from claiming UC. They are ignored if the intention is to resume work when possible. he normal disregard is six months but can be extended if reasonable to do so. In the current situation I am sure longer disregards will be put in place.

justwhat

sorry meant no help with commercial property via grant/rates

Jeremy535897

Have a look at the small business grant that is for all businesses that would pay rates but for SBBR/RRR. The description of this is "small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief". I don't think it will help if you just work from home because you won't "occupy property" and you pay council tax not rates on your home.
There is a head of steam building for more to be done to help the self employed, so follow the news closely.

Support for businesses that pay little or no business rates

The government will provide additional Small Business Grant Scheme funding for local authorities to support small businesses that already pay little or no business rates because of small business rate relief (SBBR), rural rate relief (RRR) and tapered releif. This will provide a one-off grant of £10,000 to eligible businesses to help meet their ongoing business costs.

Eligibility

You are eligible if:

• your business is based in England
• you are a small business and already receive SBBR and/or RRR
• you are a business that occupies property

justwhat

Current grant scheme is only for retail shops/cafe/restaurants and hospitality (i did post a link on another thread)

Jeremy535897

I don't think it says this.Here are the descriptions from the website. The middle one says all business. The other two say retail, hospitality and leisure businesses.

• a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England
• small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
• grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000

justwhat

yes that's confusing lol 

calcotti

justwhat said:

yes that's confusing lol 

Not really - they are different forms of support with the first and last targeted more specifically than the second.

mattyprice4004

justwhat said:

yes that's confusing lol 

It’s really not if you read it properly. 

And rates are being suspended in many sectors as well as £10,000 grants - not sure where you’re getting the ‘no help’ part of your first reply from!

justwhat

i assumed it was linked and read it wrong.