Official Statistics

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme statistics: February 2021

Published 25 February 2021

1. Overview

This publication covers the number and value of claims made to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) administered by HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) up to 31 January 2021.

The release is classified as Experimental Statistics as the methodologies used to produce the statistics are still in their development phase. As a result, the data are subject to revision. These statistics have been produced quickly in response to developing world events.

The Office for Statistics Regulation, on behalf of the UK Statistics Authority, has reviewed them against several key aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics and regards them as consistent with the Code’s pillars of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value.

1.1 Contact details

For queries or feedback on this publication, please email [email protected].

For press queries, please contact:

• Dan Allen, tel: 03000 585 024
• Lisa Billard, tel: 07773 091 264

1.2 Next release

This page will be updated when there is a known date for the next release.

2. Main findings

The main findings from these statistics are:

• Around 5 million individuals reported self-employment income for the tax year 2018 to 2019, and had their data assessed for potential Self-Employment Income Support Scheme eligibility. In order to be assessed, a self-employed individual needed to have traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted a Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year.

• Via this process, 3.4 million self-employed individuals were identified as potentially eligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme scheme. This means that they met the criteria for the scheme based on Self Assessment returns from the tax year 2018 to 19 and earlier years. However, some of the potentially eligible businesses will not have been adversely affected by Coronavirus or have ceased trading since the tax year 2018 to 19 so will not have been eligible.

• By 31 January 2.2 million (65%) of the potentially eligible population had claimed a third Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant with the value of these claims totalling £6.2 billion.

• The average value per Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 3 claim was £2,800.

• Around two-thirds of the potentially eligible population are male (2.3 million).
  • the average claim for females is also lower at £2,200 compared to the average claim for males of £3,100.

• Around 91% of claimants are aged between 25 and 64 and take-up of the grant in those age groups is at or above 62%. No one single age group dominates take up of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 3 grants.

• The sector with the highest number of potentially eligible individuals and the highest proportion of claims is the construction industry. By 31 January, construction workers had made 747,000 claims for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 3, totalling £2.6 billion.

• The 2 regions with the highest number of claims are London (439,000) and the South East (316,000), reflecting their relative sizes.

• Of the 1.7 million that did not meet the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme criteria, 1.4 million (86%) had trading profits less than non-trading profits (e.g. income from employment or investment income), 0.5 million (33%) had trading profits of £0 or made a loss and 0.2 million (11%) had trading profits over £50,000. (N.B. Individuals may be counted more than once if they have trading profits which meet more than one of these criteria which explains why the figures sum to more than 1.7 million).

3. About this release

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) provides support for self-employed individuals whose business has been adversely affected by Coronavirus (COVID-19). On the 30 November 2020 applications for the third grant of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme opened and closed on 29 January 2021. To make a claim for the third grant your business must have had a new or continuing impact from coronavirus between 1 November 2020 and 29 January 2021 This is a 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. To be eligible for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 3 an individual must have been eligible for SEIS 1 and 2 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.

The data used in this release cover claims for the third grant in the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme up to 31 January 2021. This data has been matched with other HMRC data to present breakdowns of claims by:

• age and gender
• sector of the economy
• geography

The first grant, for which applications closed on 13 July 2020, was based on 80% of your trading profits and capped at £7,500 in total. Official statistics on the first Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant are presented in an earlier publication covering data up until 31 July 2020.

The second grant, for which applications closed on 19 October 2020, was based on 70% of your trading profits and capped at £6,570 in total. Official statistics on the second grant are presented in an earlier publication covering data up until 31 October 2020.

Section 12 provides comparisons of claimants who have claimed the first, second and third Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grants.

Supplementary tables will also accompany these statistics and offer a further breakdown of the first and second Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grants up to 31 October 2020. This includes the ineligible population with positive trading profits less than their non-trading income split by income source (for further details please see table 5d).

4. Self-Employment Income Support Scheme third grant claims and eligibility

Around 5 million individuals who reported income from self-employment were assessed for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme: 3.4 million of these were found to be potentially eligible and 1.7 million were found to be ineligible.

Between 30 November and 31 January 2021, HMRC received 2.2 million claims for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme from a total potentially eligible population of 3.4 million. This represents a take up of 65%. These claims totalled £6.2 billion with an average award of £2,800 per claimant.

Eligibility for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme required an individual to have levels of income which met specific tests on:

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

There was a drop in take-up for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 3 compared to the first 2 grants likely due to the following: - Some individuals may have stopped trading, or - Their business may no longer be affected by COVID, or - The ‘reasonable belief test’ i.e. a clarification of what “impacted” means accompanying the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 3 guidance may have dissuaded some lesser affected individuals from claiming.

Figures below represent all criteria that apply to each individual from both sets of tests. Additionally, within each element individuals can be ineligible for multiple reasons and, as a result, there is a high level of overlap between the categories presented below.

Of the 1.7 million individuals who were assessed to be ineligible:

• 86% (1,439,000) had a trading profit that was less than their non-trading income;
• 33% (544,000) had a trading profit £0 or less;
• 11% (186,000) had trading profit exceeding £50,000 per year;
• 4% (70,000) were ineligible for other reasons,

5. Self-Employment Income Support Scheme third grant by gender

Figure 1 shows the number of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme claims for the third grant and the potentially eligible population by gender. Table 1 also shows claim values by gender.

Of 5.0 million individuals who were assessed for potential eligibility, men make up around two-thirds (65%), and also make up a slightly higher proportion (68%) of the potentially eligible population.

By 31 January HMRC had received 1,557,000 claims from men totalling £4.8 billion compared to 632,000 claims from women for £1.4 billion. Males have a higher take-up rate than females (68% compared to 60%) and their average grant value (£3,100) is higher than the average for females (£2,200).

Figure 1: The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme potentially eligible population and third grant claims to 31 January 2021 by gender

Source: HMRC Self-Employment Income Support Scheme linked to Self Assessment taxpayer information

Table 1 - Self-Employment Income Support Scheme potentially eligible population, number and value of third grant claims to 31 January 2021, by gender

Gender	Assessed for potential eligibility	Total potentially eligible population	Total no. of claims made	Total value of claims made	Average value of claims
Male	3,288,000	2,305,000	1,557,000	£4,798m	£3,100
Female	1,742,000	1,061,000	632,000	£1,404m	£2,200
All	5,038,000	3,370,000	2,191,000	£6,210m	£2,800

6. Self-Employment Income Support Scheme third grant by age group

Figure 2 and Table 2 show the assessed for potential eligibility population, the potentially eligible population and volumes of claims made for third grant by age group. Table 2 also shows claim values by age.

Around 89% of individuals who were assessed for potential eligibility were between the ages of 25 and 64, with over 91% of claimants coming from this age group. Take-up of the grant in these age-groups is at or above 67%, with the exception that those between 55 to 64 have a take up rate of 62%. No single age group dominates and claims are evenly spread.

The take up rate is noticeably lower for those who are aged 65 and over (46% have claimed), although they have the highest average claim value at £3,200. The youngest age group have lowest average claim value at £2,100.

Figure 2: The total potentially eligible population and number of claims to 31 January 2021, by age group

Source: HMRC Self-Employment Income Support Scheme linked to Self Assessment taxpayer information

Notes

1. Age is calculated at the date the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme opened on 13 May 2020.
2. There is missing age information for 31,000 in the potentially eligible population.

Table 2 - Self-Employment Income Support Scheme potentially eligible population, number and value of claims by 31 January 2021, by age band

Age band (as at 13 May 2020)	Assessed for potential eligibility	Total potentially eligible population	Total no. of claims made	Total value of claims made	Average value of claims
16-24	164,000	124,000	76,000	£159m	£2,100
25-34	857,000	655,000	447,000	£1,254m	£2,800
35-44	1,081,000	793,000	544,000	£1,548m	£2,800
45-54	1,189,000	848,000	569,000	£1,626m	£2,900
55-64	1,054,000	699,000	436,000	£1,244m	£2,900
65+	647,000	219,000	100,000	£324m	£3,200
Missing	45,000	31,000	20,000	£55m	£2,800
All	5,038,000	3,370,000	2,191,000	£6,210m	£2,800

7. Self-Employment Income Support Scheme third grant by industry sector

(see Table 3 in the accompanying tables for further details)

Self-employed individuals are asked to provide a description of their business activity on their self-assessment returns. These activities have been mapped across to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007 to enable analysis to be carried out by industry sector. Where an individual has multiple sources of self-employed income the activity with the highest income has been used for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme analysis.

Figures 3 and 4 show the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme populations and number of claims for the third grant made by industry sector.

The construction industry has the largest population of individuals who were assessed for potential eligibility with over 1.2 million and just over 1 million of these were potentially eligible to apply. By 31 January construction workers had made 747,000 claims for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme totalling £2.6 billion; an average of £3,500 per claimant.

Self-employed individuals in the transportation and storage sector make up 8% of the potentially eligible population and made 209,000 claims totalling £450 million. Administrative and support services also make up 8% of the potentially eligible population and have made 161,000 claims totalling £322 million.

The highest rates of being assessed as potentially eligible for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme were from individuals working in the construction industry (86%) and the transportation and storage sector (82%).

Lower rates of being assessed as potentially eligible for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme were found for individuals working in real estate activities (29%), financial and insurance activities (41%) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (45%) and professional, scientific and technical activities (45%).

Figure 3: The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme population and number of third grant claims made to 31 January 2021, by sector (for the 6 largest SIC industries potentially eligible for the scheme)

Source: HMRC Self-Employment Income Support Scheme linked to Self Assessment taxpayer information

Table 3 - The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme population and number of third grant claims made to 31 January 2021, by sector (for the 6 largest SIC industries potentially eligible for the scheme)

Sector	Assessed for potential eligibility	Total potentially eligible population	Total no. of claims made
Construction	1,224,000	1,047,000	747,000
Administrative and support service activities	384,000	283,000	161,000
Transportation and storage	323,000	265,000	209,000
Other service activities	284,000	220,000	176,000
Wholesale and retail trade; vehicle repair	296,000	189,000	113,000
Professional, scientific and technical activities	398,000	180,000	94,000

Figure 4: The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme population and number of claims for the third grant made to 31 January 2021, by sector; (smaller sectors not shown in figure 3)

Source: HMRC Self-Employment Income Support Scheme linked to Self Assessment taxpayer information

Notes:

1. 471,000 cases in the potentially eligible population are included as “Unknown and other” and almost all of these (99%) could not be allocated to a SIC code.

Table 4 - The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme population and number of claims for the third grant made to 31 January 2021, by sector; (smaller sectors not shown in figure 3)

Sector	Assessed for potential eligibility	Total potentially eligible population	Total no. of claims made
Human health and social work activities	309,000	157,000	79,000
Education	193,000	114,000	82,000
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	238,000	107,000	35,000
Arts, entertainment and recreation	187,000	99,000	68,000
Accommodation and food service activities	130,000	83,000	52,000
Manufacturing	120,000	78,000	49,000
Information and communication	68,000	37,000	19,000
Financial and insurance activities	46,000	19,000	10,000
Real estate activities	52,000	15,000	8,000
Public administration and defence	10,000	7,000	4,000

Figure 5 shows the average value of claims by sector which range from £4,000 per claimant in the finance and insurance sector to £2,000 per claimant in administrative and support services.

Figure 5: Average value of claims to 31 January 2021, by primary industry of self-employment, ranked by average claim

Source: HMRC Self-Employment Income Support Scheme linked to Self Assessment taxpayer information

Notes

1. The allocation to industry represents an individual’s highest earning self-employment.
2. 471,000 cases in the potentially eligible population are included as “Unknown and other” and almost all of these (99%) could not be allocated to a SIC code.

Table 5 - Average value of claims to 31 January 2021, by primary industry of self-employment, ranked by average claim

Sector	Average value of claims
Financial and insurance activities	4,000
Construction	3,500
Professional, scientific and technical activities	3,300
Information and communication	3,200
Real estate activities	3,200
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	3,000
Manufacturing	3,000
All claims	2,800
Human health and social work activities	2,800
Wholesale and retail trade; vehicle repair	2,800
Arts, entertainment and recreation	2,700
Accommodation and food service activities	2,700
Public administration and defence	2,600
Education	2,400
Other service activities	2,200
Transportation and storage	2,200
Administrative and support service activities	2,000

8. Self-Employment Income Support Scheme third grant by geography

(see Table 2 in the accompanying tables for further details)

Using the claimant’s Self Assessment address, Self-Employment Income Support Scheme claims can be mapped to countries of the UK, English regions and lower geographies.

Figure 6 shows the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme population and number of claims made by country and region.

London has the largest number of individuals that were assessed for potential eligibility (899,000), the largest potentially eligible population (634,000) and the largest number of claims (439,000) totalling £1.264 billion.

England had the highest proportion of assessed individuals that were found to be eligible (67%), followed by Wales (64%), Scotland (63%) and Northern Ireland (62%).

Take up rate is very even across the UK with most nations and regions having a take up rate close to 65%. London has the highest take up rate (69%) while the take up rate in the South West is the lowest (61%).

Self-employed individuals in Scotland have made 131,000 claims totalling £373 million; in Wales 88,000 claims for £233 million have been made and in Northern Ireland 62,000 claims for £171 million have been submitted.

Figure 6: The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme population and number of claims for the third grant made to 31 Janaury by country and NUTS1 region, ranked by size of assessed for eligibility population

Source: HMRC Self-Employment Income Support Scheme linked to Self Assessment taxpayer information

Notes:

1. The allocation to location represents the individual’s address registered on their Self Assessment return.
2. 13,000 of the potentially eligible population could not be allocated to a NUTS1 region.

Table 6 - The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme population and number of claims for the third grant made to 31 January by country and NUTS1 region, ranked by size of assessed for eligibility population

Sector	Assessed for potential eligibility	Total potentially eligible population	Total no. of claims made
London	899,000	634,000	439,000
South East	759,000	499,000	316,000
East of England	515,000	348,000	223,000
South West	498,000	317,000	192,000
North West	455,000	309,000	207,000
West Midlands	382,000	259,000	170,000
Yorkshire and the Humber	351,000	239,000	157,000
Scotland	326,000	207,000	131,000
East Midlands	322,000	216,000	137,000
Wales	217,000	140,000	88,000
Northern Ireland	154,000	96,000	62,000
North East	139,000	93,000	62,000

Figure 7 shows the average value of third grant claims by country and region.

The regions with the lowest average claim values are the North East and North West (£2,500).

The South East and East of England (both £3,000), South West and London (both £2,900) have average claim values above the UK average of £2,800.

Figure 7: The average value of claims by NUTS1 region, ranked by value

Source: HMRC Self-Employment Income Support Scheme linked to Self Assessment taxpayer information

Notes:

1. The allocation to location represents the individual’s address registered on their Self Assessment return.
2. 13,000 of the potentially eligible population could not be allocated to a NUTS1 region.

Table 7 - The average value of claims by NUTS1 region, ranked by value

Sector	Average value of claims
South East	3,100
East of England	3,100
South West	2,900
London	2,900
Scotland	2,800
UK average	2,800
East Midlands	2,800
Northern Ireland	2,800
West Midlands	2,700
Wales	2,600
Yorkshire and the Humber	2,600
North West	2,600
North East	2,500

8.1 Sub-regional breakdowns

Tables 4 and 5 in the accompanying Excel table pack provide a breakdown of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme claimants by Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority.

These tables also include a gender breakdown which show the number of male and female claimants and the amount they claim by each area.

The maps below illustrate how the take-up rate for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme scheme has varied across the country.

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme claims as a proportion of the potentially eligible population, by Local Authority

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS) licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2020

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme claims as a proportion of the potentially eligible population, by Parliamentary Constituency

Source: ONS licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2020

9. Self-Employment Income Support Scheme third grant claims by industry sector and geography

(see Table 6 in the accompanying tables for further details)

Sections 6-8 consider the breakdown of the number of claims received in each country and region by different demographics (industry, gender and age). Comparable information relating to the value of claims, the potentially eligible population and take-up rates can be found in tables 6 and 7 in the accompanying tables.

Figure 8 shows the breakdown of claims in each region and country by industry sector. Construction, transport and administrative services have the largest number of claims overall and are shown as separate categories on the chart. Agriculture, forestry and fishing is also large for some areas and is shown separately. Other smaller industries have been combined.

The industry profile of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme claimants does not vary greatly between countries and regions. The main exceptions are seen in the construction industry and agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Individuals working in the construction industry account for the highest proportion of claims in every country and region of the UK. London has the highest proportion, with 40% of claims being from those working in construction and Scotland has the lowest with 26%.

Individuals working in agriculture, forestry and fishing account for 9% of all claims made by individuals in Northern Ireland, 5% in Wales, 3% in Scotland and only 1% in England.

Figure 8: The proportion of claims received by 31 January 2021 in each country and region by primary industry of self-employment

Notes:

1. The allocation to industry represents an individual’s highest earning self-employment.
2. 471,000 cases of the potentially eligible population are included as “Unknown and other” and almost all of these (99%) could not be allocated to a SIC code.

Table 8 - The proportion of claims received by 31 October 2020 in each country and region by primary industry of self-employment

Proportion of claims by region and sector	Construction	Agriculture, forestry and fishing	Transportation and storage	Administrative and support service activities	Other and unknown
London	40%	0%	12%	9%	39%
East of England	37%	1%	8%	8%	46%
South East	35%	1%	8%	8%	48%
East Midlands	34%	2%	7%	7%	51%
West Midlands	33%	2%	11%	6%	48%
Wales	33%	5%	6%	6%	50%
South West	31%	2%	5%	8%	53%
Yorkshire and the Humber	31%	2%	11%	6%	50%
Northern Ireland	32%	9%	8%	4%	48%
North West	31%	1%	12%	6%	50%
North East	30%	2%	11%	6%	51%
Scotland	26%	3%	11%	6%	53%

10. Self-Employment Income Support Scheme third grant claims by gender and geography

(see Table 7 in the accompanying tables for further details)

The area with the highest proportion of males in the potentially eligible population is Northern Ireland (73%) and the lowest areas are Scotland and the South West (65% each). A similar pattern is seen in the number of claims received by 31 Janaury with male claimants accounting for 75% of claims in Northern Ireland and 66% of claims in Scotland.

Since the average claim amount is higher for males than females, men account for an even higher proportion of total claim values. In the West Midlands, East of England and Northern Ireland (79%) and London (80)% of total claim values are from men. The lowest male share is in Scotland and South West where 73% of the total amount claimed is claimed by men.

Figure 9: The proportion of claims received by 31 January 2021 in each country and region by gender

Table 9 - The proportion of claims received by 31 January 2021 in each country and region by gender

Proportion of claims by region and gender	Male	Female
Northern Ireland	75%	25%
West Midlands	74%	26%
London	74%	26%
North West	72%	28%
Wales	72%	28%
Yorkshire and the Humber	72%	28%
North East	71%	29%
East of England	71%	29%
East Midlands	69%	31%
South East	69%	31%
South West	66%	34%
Scotland	67%	33%

11. Self-Employment Income Support Scheme third grant claims by age and geography

(see Table 7 in the accompanying tables for further details)

The age distribution of the potentially eligible population and claims received by 31 January is reasonably consistent across all countries and regions with the exception of London.

Between 41% (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) and 48% (England) of the potentially eligible population in each country and region is aged under 45 except in London where 58% are under 45.

A similar distribution is observed from claims with the lowest proportion aged under 45 being in Scotland (43% of claims and 41% of claim value) and the highest being in London (59% of claims and 58% of claim value).

Figure 10: Age distribution of claims received by 31 January 2021 in each country and region

Notes:

1. Age is calculated at the date the first grant opened on 13 May 2020.
2. The age for around 32,000 individuals in the potentially eligible population is not known which is around 1% of each country/region although slightly higher at 3% for individuals living in Northern Ireland.

Table 10 - Age distribution of claims received by 31 January 2021 in each country and region

Proportion of claims by region and gender	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+	Missing
London	4%	26%	29%	24%	14%	3%	0%
East of England	4%	21%	24%	25%	20%	5%	1%
South East	4%	20%	24%	26%	21%	5%	1%
North West	3%	20%	25%	27%	21%	4%	1%
West Midlands	3%	19%	24%	27%	20%	5%	1%
East Midlands	4%	20%	24%	27%	21%	5%	1%
Yorkshire and the Humber	3%	19%	25%	28%	21%	4%	1%
North East	3%	18%	24%	28%	22%	4%	1%
South West	3%	19%	23%	26%	22%	6%	1%
Northern Ireland	3%	18%	26%	26%	19%	5%	3%
Wales	3%	19%	22%	26%	22%	6%	1%
Scotland	2%	18%	23%	27%	23%	5%	1%

12. Comparing claimants of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme first, second and third grants (see Tables 8, 8a, 8b and 8c in the accompanying tables for further details)

This section provides a comparison to show how many individuals have claimed each of the 3 Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grants and provides a breakdown by age/gender, geography and industry sector of claimants.

By 31 January 2021, 2.7 million unique individuals had claimed a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant. Of these, 2 million individuals (74%) claimed all 3 grants and 2.2 million (80%) claimed Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 3 and either the first or second grant. Of those that did not claim the third grant, 506,000 (19%) claimed either the first or second grant and 271,000 (11%) claimed both of the first 2 grants.

Claims for the first grant totalled £7.6 billion, claims for the second grant totalled £5.9 billion and claims for the third grant totalled £6.2 billion giving a combined total of £19.7 billion for all 3 grants.

For those claiming all 3 grants, the average value for the first Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant (£2,900) is slightly lower than for those claiming only the first and second grant (£3,200). For those claiming all 3 grants the average value for the second Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant (£2,500) is slightly lower than for those only claiming only the first and second grant (£2,800). The average claim value for the third Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant for those claiming all 3 grants is (£2,900).

Table 11 - Number and value of claims for first, second and third Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grants to 31 January 2021

Schemes	Claimed any of SEISS 1, 2 or 3	Claimed SEISS 1,2 and 3	Claimed SEISS 1 and/or 2 but didn’t claim 3
Total population (000s)	2,698	2,018	507
Total value of claims made for SEISS 1 (£m)	7,588	5,767	1,539
Average value of claims made for SEISS 1 (£)	2,900	2,900	3,100
Total value of claims made for SEISS 2 (£m)	5,929	5,040	799
Average value of claims made for SEISS 2 (£)	2,500	2,500	2,800
Total value of claims made for SEISS 3 (£m)	6,210	5,759	N/A
Average value of claims made for SEISS 3 (£)	2,800	2,900	N/A

13. Background to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme was announced on 26 March 2020 as part of the UK government’s support package for businesses and self-employed people during the coronavirus outbreak in early 2020. 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
• traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
• intended to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
• carried on a trade which had been adversely affected by coronavirus

A business could be adversely affected by coronavirus if, for example:

• they were unable to work because they:
  • were shielding
  • were self-isolating
  • were on sick leave because of coronavirus
  • had caring responsibilities because of coronavirus
• they have had to scale down or temporarily stop trading because:
  • their supply chain has been interrupted
  • they have fewer or no customers or clients
  • their staff are unable to come in to work

The grant is not open to limited companies or those operating a trade through a trust.

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 your non-trading income. If an individual is not eligible based on the 2018 to 2019 Self Assessment tax return, HMRC will then look at 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 Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant closed for claims on 13 July 2020.

On the 17 August 2020 applications for the second Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 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.

On 30 November 2020 applications for the third Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant opened. On 30 November 2020 applications for the third Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 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 eligibility rules changed slightly for the third grant. To be eligible for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 3 an individual must have been eligible for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme 1 and 2 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.

The statistics presented in this release mainly cover claims for the third grant in the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme scheme up to 31 January 2021.

14. Glossary

The assessed for potential eligibility population are those self-employed individuals 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.

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme potentially eligible population are those who HMRC identified as being potentially eligible for a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant based on the information held from their Self Assessment returns relating to the tax years; 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019. This is the group who have been invited to claim for a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant. This does not attempt to assess if a business was affected by coronavirus or whether they continued trading after the tax year 2018 to 2019. So it is the potentially eligible population based only on the information in the Self Assessment forms and not all will apply for the grant.

The assessed to be ineligible population are those self-employed individuals 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 Self-Employment Income Support Scheme criteria. Trading profits must be between £0 and £50,000 and at least equal to your non-trading income.

For an individual to be found ineligible based on the income criteria they need to be found ineligible based on the 2018 to 2019 Self Assessment tax return and the combination of the relevant fields for consecutive tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, and 2018 to 2019. 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.

The number of claims is defined as the total number of individuals who had submitted a claim for a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant by 16.59pm on 31 January 2021 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.

The definitions above apply in the vast majority of cases but there are some other circumstances that are considered when including individuals for assessment and which also may affect potential eligibility to Self-Employment Income Support Scheme. However, some of these are only applicable from when the second Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant opens to claims on 17 August and are therefore not included in the statistics in this publication. You can read more about how different circumstances affect Self-Employment Income Support Scheme on GOV.UK.