The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) has welcomed the announcement by The Chancellor Rishi Sunak of a financial package to support the self employed. The package includes taxable grants worth 80 per cent of individuals' average profits for three months, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. The scheme will be capped and open to anyone with trading profits of up to £50,000.
HMRC will contact self employed individuals to start the application process and begin eligibility checks. Payments will be calculated using average monthly profits over the last three financial years. For self employed individuals who have been established for more than one but less than three years, HMRC will use what information is available to calculate payments. The first payments as part of this package are expected to be made in June and will be backdated to cover the three months from March 2020.
The RCOT Chief Executive Julia Scott comments:
"A significant number of our members are self-employed independent practitioners or run their own small occupational therapy business, and this will be a great boost to many who felt overlooked by the previous financial support packages that have been created for people who work as employees. However, it is a concern that the self employed will have to wait until June to receive this payment, which many will find a huge challenge. I would therefore urge The Chancellor to expedite the process and offer additional support for those in the most financially difficult positions."