Official Statistics

Background Quality Report: Self Employment Income Scheme Statistics

Published 7 October 2021

1. Contact

• Organisation unit - Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence (KAI)
• Name – W Jones; S Chelley; M Qasim; C Herwig
• Team – COVID-19 Analysis, Coordination and Evaluation
• Email – [email protected]

2. Statistical presentation

This section gives an outline of government policy surrounding the Self Employment Income Support Scheme and the statistics published. This includes details on the government’s contributions and the criteria for which people were eligible to claim on the scheme, some background on the statistics produced, key definitions relating to the Self Employment Income Support Scheme, and the timeline and areas covered by the scheme.

2.1 Policy background and data description

This publication provides information on individuals assessed for eligibility for the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). The scheme was announced by the government on 26 March 2020 as part of its economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the first grant opened for claims on 13 May 2020. An individual is assessed as either potentially eligible or ineligible for the scheme based on certain eligibility criteria. Individuals are assessed using information provided in their 2018 to 2019 Self Assessment tax returns for the first 3 grants, and their 2019 to 2020 return for the fourth and fifth grant.

This publication shows the number of individuals in the potentially eligible and ineligible populations as well as those that go on to claim a grant. Of those that claim a grant this publication shows the total number, total value and average value of claims made as well as the take-up rate.

This is broken down by age, gender, region and industry sector. There are also further regional breakdowns by parliamentary constituency and local authority.

This publication provides further breakdowns that splits the potentially eligible population by individuals that were previously eligible for the third grant and individuals that were newly eligible. In the fourth grant publication these are shown split between those who were assessed for eligibility and found ineligible, and those who were not assessed for the third grant (for example because they submitted their 2018 to 2019 return too late or were newly self-employed in 2019 to 2020).

For the fifth grant, individuals had to provide a Financial Impact Declaration (FID) which involved comparing their turnover from a reference year to the pandemic year. If their turnover decreased by at least 30% then they would be eligible for the full 80% grant, if not they would only be eligible for a 30% grant. This publication shows the proportion of the number and value of claims for the higher grant.

Additionally, the newly eligible population are now split between those who were newly self-employed meaning they did not trade in any of tax year 2016 to 2017, tax year 2017 to 2018 or tax year 2018 to 2019, but did trade in tax year 2019 to 2020, and other individuals who were ineligible for the third grant. This is because the newly self-employed population where exempt from the FID.

Up to date information about the Self Employment Income Support Scheme can be found on the HMRC’s guidance page on gov.uk.

2.2 Contents of the Self Employment Income Support Scheme statistics

This section describes the content of the statistics and gives some details about the data used.

This publication includes breakdowns of claims by:

• age and gender
• country and region
• industrial sector
• local authority
• UK parliamentary constituency

Breakdowns by age, gender and region are determined based on data submitted by individuals in their Self Assessment tax return.

The SEISS system itself does not capture sectoral data, self-employed workers provide a description of their business activity on their Self Assessment returns. Where possible, these text descriptions have been mapped across to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007 to enable analysis to be carried out by industry sector.

2.3 Sector coverage

For the first 3 grants, this publication covers individuals with self-employment income that traded in 2018 to 2019 and submitted their Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020.

For the fourth and fifth grants, this publication covers individuals with self-employment income that traded in 2019 to 2020 and submitted their Self Assessment tax return on or before 2 March 2021.

2.4 Statistical concepts and definitions

Assessed population

For the first, second and third grants, the assessed for potential eligibility population are those individuals with self-employment income who HMRC identified as having traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted their Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year.

For the fourth and fifth grants, the assessed for potential eligibility population are those individuals with self-employment income who HMRC identified as having traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020 and submitted their Self Assessment tax return on or before 2 March 2021 for that year.

Potentially eligible population

The potentially eligible population are those who HMRC identified as being potentially eligible for a grant based on the information held from their Self Assessment tax returns relating to the tax years; 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019, and 2019 to 2020. 2019 to 2020 Self Assessment tax returns were only used for the fourth and fifth grants.

This is the group who have been invited to claim for a grant. This does not attempt to assess if a business was affected by coronavirus or whether they continued trading after 2018 to 2019 for the first 3 grants, or after 2019 to 2020 for the fourth and fifth grant. So, it is the potentially eligible population based only on the information in the Self Assessment tax returns and not all will apply for the grant.

Ineligible population

For the first, second and third grants, the assessed to be ineligible population are those individuals with self-employment income who HMRC identified as having traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted their Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year but were found not to be eligible after being assessed against the SEISS eligibility criteria.

For the fourth and fifth grants, this population was individuals with self-employment income who HMRC identified as having traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020 and submitted their Self Assessment tax return on or before 2 March 2021 for that year but were found not to be eligible after being assessed against the SEISS eligibility criteria.

SEISS eligibility criteria

2019 to 2020 will be used as the reference year for the following explanation of the SEISS eligibility criteria.

Trading profits must be between £0 and £50,000 and at least equal to their non-trading income. For an individual to be found ineligible based on the income criteria they need to be found ineligible based on the 2019 to 2020 Self Assessment tax return and the combination of the relevant fields for consecutive tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019, and 2019 to 2020. Individuals are also included in the ineligible figures in this publication if an individual’s grant calculation resulted in an amount of £0 or less and if they are recorded as having ceased trading on the Self Assessment systems.

Number of claims

The number of claims is defined as the total number of individuals who had submitted a claim for a grant by the reference date for the publication that had been either paid, sent for payment or had been received and were awaiting various checks. Only non-rejected claims are included, with the majority of these having been paid or sent for payment. However, a small number of claims were still being processed and could be rejected.

Take-up rate

The take-up rate for each grant is calculated as the ratio of the number of claims made for that grant against the potentially eligible population for that grant.

Age

For the first, second and third grants, age is calculated based on how old individuals were on 13 May 2020. This is the date that claims for the first grant opened.

For the fourth and fifth grants, age is calculated based on how old individuals were on 22 April 2021. This is the date that claims for the fourth grant opened. This is calculated using the date of birth individuals provide on their Self Assessment tax return.

Sector

An individual provides information that describes the nature of their business on their Self Assessment tax return. This is matched against a lookup table that assigns a SIC 2007 code based on the business description provided. This is not always successful and can also result in more than one SIC 2007 code assigned to a claim, in which case that claim would be treated as ‘unknown’.

Geographical Breakdowns

There are geographical breakdowns in the data covering regions, local authorities and Parliamentary constituencies. These geographical breakdowns use postcode lookup files from ONS data to link UK postcodes to geographic areas. More detailed information on the geographical data can be found using the Open Geography Portal (statistics.gov.uk).

Financial Impact Declaration

The fifth grant introduced a Financial Impact Declaration (FID), where an individual must declare that their turnover had fallen by 30% or more between their reference year and the pandemic year in order to claim the higher 80% grant. Otherwise they would only be eligible for the lower 30% grant.

2.5 Statistical unit

The units in the statistics are individuals with self-employment income, number of claims and value of claims.

2.6 Statistical population

All individuals with self-employment income assessed for eligibility for the scheme.

There are several phases of the scheme:

First, second and third grants

Between 13 May 2020 and 29 January 2021, the scheme was open to self-employed individuals and members of a partnership who met the following criteria:

• traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted their Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year, and
• traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020, and
• intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2019 to 2020, and
• carried on a trade which had been adversely affected by coronavirus

To work out eligibility, HMRC first look at the 2018 to 2019 Self Assessment tax return. Trading profits must be between £0 and £50,000 and at least equal to non-trading income. If an individual was not eligible based on the 2018 to 2019 Self Assessment tax return, HMRC then looked at an average of the tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, and 2018 to 2019.

The scheme allows an eligible individual to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £7,500 in total. The first grant closed for claims on 13 July 2020.

On the 17 August 2020 applications for the second grant opened. This was a taxable grant worth 70% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £6,570 in total. The second grant closed for claims on 19 October 2020.

On 30 November 2020 applications for the third grant opened. This was a taxable grant worth 80% of an individual’s average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £7,500 in total. The third grant closed for claims on 29 January 2021.

The eligibility rules changed slightly for the third grant. To be eligible for the third grant an individual must have been eligible for the first and second grant and also declare that they intend to continue to trade and either:

• are currently actively trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus
• were previously trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus

Fourth grant

On 22 April 2021 applications for the fourth grant opened. The claims window closed on 1 June 2021. Eligibility for the fourth grant required an individual to have levels of income which met specific tests on:

• their 2019 to 2020 tax year income, or
• the combination of income for consecutive tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019, and 2019 to 2020 where available

With 2019 to 2020 tax year income assessed for the first time, some individuals could claim a grant that were previously unable to do so. These individuals are now described as either:

• not previously assessed, meaning the individual could not be assessed for eligibility for the third grant, either because they did not submit their 2018 to 2019 return on time or because they did not trade in 2018 to 2019 and were new to trading in 2019 to 2020
• previously ineligible, meaning they were assessed for the third grant, but did not meet the criteria for eligibility, for example because their trading profit was less than their non-trading income

Fifth grant

On 29 July 2021 applications for the fifth grant opened. The claims window closed on 30 September 2021. This grant introduced 2 levels of grant based on the reduction in turnover experienced. These 2 levels are either:

• a grant of 80% of 3 months’ average trading profits capped at £7,500 for those with a turnover down by 30% or more, or
• a grant of 30% of 3 months’ average trading profits capped at £2,850 for those with a turnover down by less than 30%

To be eligible for the higher grant, the individual must make a Financial Impact Declaration (FID), that their turnover has fallen by 30% or more between their reference year and the pandemic year. Newly self-employed individuals who did not trade in tax year 2016 to 2017, tax year 2017 to 2018 or tax year 2018 to 2019 are not subject to the FID and can claim the higher grant. The newly eligible population is presented in publications relating to the fifth grant as either:

• newly self-employed, meaning the individual did started trading in 2019 to 2020 having not traded in any of 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018 or 2019-19, consistent with the definition used to exempt individuals from the FID
• previously ineligible, meaning they were ineligible for the third grant for any reason other than the above

2.7 Reference area

The geographic region covered by the data is the United Kingdom (UK).

2.8 Time coverage

The statistics cover the time period from May 2020 until September 2021. This represents the start of the first grant to the end of the fifth grant.

3. Statistical processing

3.1 Source data

The data for this release come from HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) system for administering SEISS. It covers the whole population rather than a sample of people or companies.

Additional data from HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Self Assessment system and other HMRC administrative systems has been matched with Self Employment Income Support Scheme data to produce the data released here.

The age, gender and postcode of residential address has been collected from the Self Assessment account for each individual. The industry information has been collected from the Self Assessment tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2019 for the first, second and third grants and relates to the self-employment business description provided on that return. For the fourth and fifth grants, this information has been collected from the Self Assessment tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2020.

To produce the geographic breakdowns, the claimants’ residential postcode has been matched to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data that links UK Post Codes to geographic areas. The geographic areas that have been presented in this release are Country and English Region, Local Authority and Parliamentary Constituency.

The Self Assessment system is a live operational dataset and, as such, details such as residential address may be updated at any point. The allocation of geography and industry in these statistics is based on the latest reported information. As a result, it is possible for an individual claimant’s characteristics to change between the first publication of statistics on 11 June 2020 and subsequent publications.

3.2 Frequency of data collection

HMRC’s SEISS core system is available 24/7 for duration of the claims window. SEISS core database is updated every 15 minutes during peak claims and hourly thereafter.

For publications purposes, an extract is taken once a month during the claims period. The date of extract is clearly labelled in the statistics.

3.3 Data collection

Data on claims is sourced from the HMRC’s SEISS core system.

3.4 Data validation

Checks carried out on the data include:

• HMRC’s teams responsible for the raw eligible and ineligible Self Employment Income Support Scheme data have quality assurance checks in place
• process in place to check for overlaps between eligible and ineligible data sets, ensuring no duplication occurs
• when running the code, the number of rows output after each step is quality assured and compared with previous runs. Unusual differences would alert us to errors within the code or data. Run times of the code are also checked in a similar manner
• outputs are checked against previous HMRC publications to sense check the scale of the numbers and value of grants claimed
• outputs are checked for consistency, ensuring totals add up across the publication
• disclosure and dominance checking carried out on the outputs to ensure HMRC does not breach its legal duty to maintain confidentiality of taxpayer information
• statistics production – a quality assurance checklist with the most common problems that we go through every publication to check for errors in the publication tables, graphs and commentary
• management information production - a quality assurance checklist with the most common problems that we go through every publication to check for errors in the publication tables, graphs and commentary

3.5 Data compilation

Assigning Industry Sector

An individual provides information that describes the nature of their business on their Self Assessment tax return. This is matched against a lookup table that assigns a SIC 2007 code based on the business description provided. This is not always successful and can also result in more than one SIC 2007 code assigned to a claim, in which case that claim would be treated as ‘unknown’.

4. Quality Management

4.1 Quality assurance

All official statistics produced by the Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence (KAI) team in HMRC must meet the standards in the Code of Practice for Statistics produced by the UK Statistics Authority and all analysts adhere to best practice as set out in the ‘Quality’ pillar.

These are experimental statistics and improvements have been made over time to the code and processes used to produce the statistics. There is a checklist that summarises the key quality assurance tasks and is used as a starting point to consider the quality assurance actions to undertake.

Analysts have constructed a plan for all the quality assurance tasks that are completed, along with documentation on how each of those tasks are to be carried out.

Analysts carry out quality assurance tasks, update the checklist, and pass onto the Senior Responsible Officer for review and eventual sign off.

4.2 Quality assessment

The QA for this project adhered to the framework described in ‘4.1 Quality assurance’ and the specific procedures undertaken were as follows:

Stage 1 – Specifying the question

Up to date documentation was agreed with stakeholders setting out outputs needed and by when; how the outputs will be used; and all the parameters required for the analysis.

Stage 2 – Developing the methodology Methodology was agreed and developed in collaboration with stakeholders and others with relevant expertise, ensuring it was fit for purpose and would deliver the required outputs.

Stage 3 – Building and populating a model/piece of code

When writing the code

• analysis was produced using the most appropriate software and in line with good practice guidance
• data inputs were checked to ensure they were fit-for-purpose by reviewing available documentation and, where possible, through direct contact with data suppliers
• quality assurance of the input data was carried out
• the analysis was audited by someone other than the lead analyst – checking code and methodology

Stage 4 – Running and testing the model/code

When running the code

• results were compared with those produced in previous months and differences understood and determined to be genuine
• results were compared with comparable independent estimates, and differences understood
• results were determined to be explainable and in line with expectations

Stage 5 – Drafting the final output

When drafting the final output

• checks were completed to ensure internal consistency (eg totals equal the sum of the components)
• the final outputs were independently proofread and checked

5. Relevance

5.1 User needs

This analysis is likely to be of interest to users under the following broad headings:

• national government – policy makers and MPs
• regional and local governments
• academia and research bodies
• media
• business community
• general public

5.2 User satisfaction

Formal investigations into user satisfaction have not been undertaken, however feedback from users following the release have been received and HMRC are always open to ideas for new analysis to meet changing user requirements. Any feedback should be sent to [email protected].

5.3 Completeness

These statistics cover all claims made up to the date stated in the publication. These statistics also provide information on the assessed, potentially eligible and ineligible populations as at the date stated in the publication. A review process is in place to allow customers to query HMRC’s eligibility decisions. Depending on the outcome, some individuals are able to make a claim after the relevant claim window has closed, so it is possible for the number and value of claims for each grant to go up and this will be reflected in subsequent statistical publications.

6. Accuracy and reliability

6.1 Overall accuracy

This analysis is based on administrative data, and accuracy is addressed by eliminating non-sampling errors as much as possible through adherence to the quality assurance framework.

The potential sources of error include:

• individuals manually entering data incorrectly in their SEISS claim or Self Assessment tax return
• postcode information being used may be out of date or not where the business takes place and can lead to inaccurate geographical breakdowns
• processing of duplicate and overlapping claims
• mistakes in the code used to produce the statistics
• manual errors when producing the data tables and commentary to be published

6.2 Sampling error

Samples are not used in this analysis. Sampling error is therefore not relevant.

6.3 Non-sampling error

Coverage error

Self-employed individuals must have submitted their Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for the first, second and third grants, or on or before 2 March 2021 for the fourth and fifth grants to be assessed for potential eligibility. Coverage is therefore not relevant.

Measurement error

The main sources of measurement error could be categorised as respondent error which includes making errors entering their information onto the SEISS claim or Self Assessment tax return.

Nonresponse error

Self-employed individuals may submit or amend their claim after the deadlines with a reasonable excuse. Some claims filed late or amended will be captured in the next publication and the relevant amendments to the published statistics made. But amendments or late filings submitted after the data for the publication is extracted will not be captured in the publication.

Processing error

It is possible that errors exist in the programming code used to analyse the data and produce the statistics. This risk is reduced through developing a good understanding of the complexities of SEISS data, and thoroughly reviewing and testing the programs that are used.

6.4 Data revision

Data revision – policy

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority (UKSA) Code of Practice for Official Statistics requires all producers of Official Statistics to publish transparent guidance on the policy for revisions.

Data revision – practice

These statistics cover all claims made by self-employed individuals from the start of the scheme up to the reference date of the latest publication. The figures for number of claims includes those had been received and were awaiting various checks. A small number of claims were still being processed and could be rejected which would lead to revisions in future publications.

Individuals can move between the potentially eligible and the ineligible populations if they are moved in/out of the compliance blocklist. This list is assessed on a weekly basis so revisions to these populations are expected between publications.

6.5 Seasonal adjustment

Seasonal adjustment is not used in these statistics.

7. Timeliness and punctuality

7.1 Timeliness

The analysis is published monthly while a SEISS grant claim period is open. There is usually a 3 to 4 week lag from the reference date of the publication the publication date due to the time is takes to process and quality assure the statistics.

7.2 Punctuality

In accordance with the Code of Practice for official statistics, the exact date of publication will be given not less than one calendar month before publication on both the Schedule of updates for HMRC’s statistics and the Research and statistics calendar of GOV.UK.

Any delays to the publication date will be announced on the HMRC National Statistics website.

The full publication calendar can be found on both the Schedule of updates for HMRC’s statistics and the Research and statistics calendar of GOV.UK.

8. Coherence and comparability

8.1 Geographical comparability

The geographic areas used for these statistics have been largely unchanged over the time that these statistics have been produced. Where there have been changes, they have generally involved local authority areas merging. Therefore, there are no substantial geographic comparability issues.

8.2 Comparability over time

For each grant there are usually 2 or 3 statistics releases, with the final release covering the full claims period. These final releases are currently the best way to compare the grants by age, gender, region and industrial sector. The final release for each grant is as follows:

First grant – August 2020 Second grant – November 2020 Third grant – February 2021 Fourth grant – July 2021 Fifth grant – November 2021

From the June 2021 publication onwards, the total number and value of claims for each grant up to the reference date is published.

The populations for the first, second and third grants are calculated based on an individual’s 2018 to 2019 Self Assessment tax returns and the 2 years prior. The populations for the fourth and fifth grants are calculated based on 2019 to 2020 Self Assessment tax returns and the 3 years prior. The individuals with self-employment income within the potentially eligible and ineligible populations changed from the third grant to the fourth grant but the size of both populations remained similar.

For the first, second and third grants age is calculated based on a self-employed individual’s age on 13 May 2020. For the fourth and fifth grants, age is calculated based on a self-employed individual’s age on 22 April 2021. For this reason, there may be some comparability issues between those sets of grants.

8.3 Coherence – cross domain

Coherence – sub-annual and annual statistics

All statistics are presented as monthly outputs. No coherence issues exist.

8.4 Coherence – internal

Rounding of numbers may cause some minor internal coherence issues as the figures within a table may not sum to the total displayed. The totals between tables should be consistent.

9. Accessibility and clarity

9.1 News release

The Self Employment Income Support Scheme has been widely reported in the media.

9.2 Publication

The tables and associated commentary are published on the work and financial support during coronavirus webpage of GOV.UK.

Tables are published in the MS Excel spreadsheet format, and the associated commentary as an accessible html.

Both documents comply with the accessibility regulations set out in the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Further information can be found in HMRC’s accessible documents policy.

9.3 Online databases

This analysis is not available in any online databases.

9.4 Micro-data access

Access to this data is not possible in micro-data form, due to HMRC’s responsibilities around maintaining confidentiality of taxpayer information.

9.5 Other

There aren’t any other dissemination formats available for this analysis.

9.6 Documentation on methodology

A description of the methodology used is contained in the HTML publication (see section titled ‘methodology’ in the latest release of these statistics).

9.7 Quality documentation

All official statistics produced by KAI, must meet the standards in the Code of Practice for Statistics produced by the UK Statistics Authority and all analysts adhere to best practice as set out in the ‘Quality’ pillar.

Information about quality procedures for this analysis can be found in section 4 of this document.

10. Cost and burden

All necessary data for the statistics is obtained from an administrative data source, most notably HMRC SEISS and HMRC SA data. Data is also obtained from external data sources such as the ONS postcode lookup tables and SIC 2007 code. There is no additional burden on self-employed individuals to provide information in their Self Employment Income Support Scheme claim or Self Assessment tax return.

It is estimated to take about 30 days FTE to produce the monthly analysis and publication.

11. Confidentiality

11.1 Confidentiality – policy

HMRC has a legal duty to maintain the confidentiality of taxpayer information.

Section 18(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (CRCA) sets out our duty of confidentiality.

This analysis complies with this requirement.

11.2 Confidentiality – data treatment

The statistics in these tables are presented at an aggregate level so identification of an individual is minimised, but potentially still possible. Aggregate data categorised by 3-digit SIC 2007 code and Local Authority, has the potential to be disclosive.

Statistical disclosure control (SDC) is used to identify figures in the text and tables that pose potential disclosure risks. Where figures are identified as presenting a risk of disclosure action has been taken as follows. Some cells contain small values have been presented as <100 for numbers of claims and <100,000 for values of claims. In other cases, we have combined categories to manage the risk of disclosure. SDC modifies data so that data subjects cannot be identified. Disclosure in this analysis is avoided by applying rules that prevent categories of data containing small numbers of contributors.

If a cell within a table is determined to be disclosive, its contents are suppressed either by removing the data or combining categories.

Further information on anonymisation and data confidentiality best practice can be found on the Government Statistical Service’s website.