Why is there such a big gap between third and fourth seiss grants?

Fuzzfeatures

So the date from which you could claim the 3rd SEISS grant was 29th November and this was to cover the period from Nov '20 to the end of Jan '21. The fourth grant which is supposed to cover the period from Feb '21 to April '21 won't be open to claims until (according to en emil I just received from HMRC) "late April" How is this happening?? I recieved my third grant in early December and it looks like I won't receive a 4th grant until late April - Nearly 5 months!!! How on god's green earth am I supposed to manage??
Can someone explain to me why this has not been shouted about? I have earned no money at all since Christmas eve! 

Under_the_Radar_2

The delay is supposedly because it now includes tax returns for 19/20 so it lets people previously excluded able to claim, but they are saying it will take that long to process the latest tax returns. Seems a bit weak but that seems to be the reason they are giving. Totally unfair and unrealistic, but at least some of those that should've been helped since last March but weren't are now being included.

Fuzzfeatures

Its VERY weak. If the claim dates had all been a consistent 3 months apart, the 4th grant claims would have opened mid- feb and the 5th would be mid May only a couple of weeks after the current expected opening of the 4th round.
Claims for the second grant were opened around three months after the first.
Claims for the third grant were opened around 3 and a half months later.
And now claims for the 4th grant don't look likely to be opened untill the end of April. 

Overall, I'm really glad that the government have helped as much as they have, but these extra delays are going to push plenty of genuinely in-need people into debt. With the current ridiculous overdraft interest rates, this may be never-ending circle for some.

MattMattMattUK

Fuzzfeatures said:

So the date from which you could claim the 3rd SEISS grant was 29th November and this was to cover the period from Nov '20 to the end of Jan '21. The fourth grant which is supposed to cover the period from Feb '21 to April '21 won't be open to claims until (according to en emil I just received from HMRC) "late April" How is this happening?? I recieved my third grant in early December and it looks like I won't receive a 4th grant until late April - Nearly 5 months!!! How on god's green earth am I supposed to manage??
Can someone explain to me why this has not been shouted about? I have earned no money at all since Christmas eve! 

It is happening because the government have chosen to implement the timings that way. It will take until April for HMRC to verify all 19/20 tax returns and get the info into the relevant systems ready to process SEISS.

You are getting a lot more than many others, shouting and complaining that you do not get handed thousands of pounds on a timescale you want would seem rather ungrateful.

p00hsticks

Fuzzfeatures said:

How on god's green earth am I supposed to manage??

Can you not claim Universal credit ?

JINGLE_2

Martin explained how self-employed have already had 2 months unaccounted for in SEISS grants.  I hope that not being able to claim 4th grant until end of April will include all months.

Grumpy_chap

Under_the_Radar_2 said:

The delay is supposedly because it now includes tax returns for 19/20 so it lets people previously excluded able to claim, but they are saying it will take that long to process the latest tax returns. Seems a bit weak but that seems to be the reason they are giving. Totally unfair and unrealistic, but at least some of those that should've been helped since last March but weren't are now being included.

It does not seem unfair, weak or unrealistic to me.
There were campaigns for the 2019-20 tax return to be considered and also campaigns for the date to submit the 2019-20 tax return to have an extended deadline.  Both of those have been acceded to.  The flip is that the HMRC now need time to process.  Can't have it all ways.