Furlough/self-employed

holliespolly

Hi all,

I have two jobs - one is PAYE (full time) and I also do some part time work at home for a webdesign company, on a self-employed basis.
I have been furloughed from my PAYE job and am unsure whether I can continue doing my self-employed work during this period.
I have called HMRC twice to enquire about this. The first person I spoke to told me this was not permitted - they said I could have another PAYE job as long as my employer was okay with it, but I was not allowed to continue my self-employed work. Today I called HMRC again and was told it was fine to continue with my self-employed work whilst on furlough.

Does anyone have any insight on this matter? I would like to continue doing my self-employed work if possible (it gives me something to do!), however am hesitant to do so if it means my furlough could be brought to an end.

Thanks in advance!

calcotti

I can see nothing in the guidance that would prevent you continuing your self employment. Presumably your employer is aware of this.

Jeremy535897

There is an ambiguous phrase in the guidance to employees in the job retention scheme, as follows:
"This scheme does not apply if you are self-employed or to any income from self-employment. You may qualify for support under the self-employment income support scheme."
The majority on the forum believes that this just means that the job retention scheme does not cover self employment income, but it could be read to say that you can't be self employed and be in the job retention scheme. This may be why you got two differing opinions from HMRC. I prefer the view that you can be self employed and still benefit from the job retention scheme, because it makes more sense.