Last resort! Re: furlough/seiss

SamJest

Hello everyone!
as the title says this is my last attempt to see if anything can be done, huge appreciation if anyone can help or give any advice but I’ve not had any luck anywhere so far.
if you can bear with me for a few minutes,
I handed my notice in at my old job a few weeks before the first lockdown in March, I had a new job lined up due to sign the contract on Monday the 23rd of March.
lockdown happened and despite me explaining quite thoroughly to my old boss that she could rehire me to put me on furlough she wasn’t having any of it, and the signing of my new contact was postponed until further notice meaning I couldn’t claim any kind of furlough.
fast forward to June and I went self employed in the construction industry which I am currently still doing.
my problem if you haven’t guessed is that i
cant claim any of the seiss grants as I’ve only been self employed from 2020/21 and I’m really starting to struggle a bit with finances.
is there anything I can do?
I have paye tax records going back years but it doesn’t seem to hold any relevance
thanks!

SamJest

Also I have completed my tax return for this year which shows reduction in earnings due to corona 

Grumpy_chap

OP - can you please clarify, was it June 2020 that you went self-employed sole trader in the construction industry?

How much work have you done since starting as self-employed?

SamJest

Yes I went self employed about halfway through june.

Until the end of 2020 i was doing 5 day weeks but since the start of the year is gone from 4 to 3 or sometimes 2 days a week.

Grumpy_chap

For the OP, with the timing of the change of job, then neither SEISS or furlough are options. 
There is no obligation on the former employer to re-hire to furlough and that window is passed.

IF the OP was elf-employed as Ltd Co., then there may be options for furlough on a (small) salary drawn but I don't think that is a consideration for the OP as it rather looks as though the OP is self-employed sole-trader.

With two-days (or more) per week employed I would not expect UC to be a safety nett, but the OP could use an on-line benefits checker such as https://www.entitledto.co.uk/ to check.

That leaves the OP with finding more work in construction (or something else).  The OP has not said what type of role they do in construction or why the work has dropped off from the beginning of this year.  In my area, construction seems to be absurdly busy but the OP may been in an area with different circumstances.

mattyprice4004

Unfortunately you’re going to be quite limited as to your options I feel, as per the post above. 

With regards to furlough from your original employer, you can’t really blame them - you had left so all goodwill has evaporated, so why would they do all the admin and associated work for no reward and you leaving at the end anyway?