Today’s announcement shows that your efforts really do work. Photo credit: Shutterstock
The Government has announced that eligible self-employed workers will be able to apply for a second round of SEISS grants.
Applications will open in August, and will provide a further three months of support, backdated through June, July and August. However, in line with the furlough scheme, the amount of support will be reduced to 70%.
This extension of SEISS is something we’ve been lobbying very hard for on behalf of our members.
We were instrumental in securing the introduction of SEISS in the first place, but as it has become clear that musicians can not go back to work in the near future, we have argued for continued support.
So many of our members have answered our call to write to their MPs and to the Chancellor, calling for continued support. And today’s announcement shows that your efforts really do work, from introducing SEISS, to amending the scheme to include migrant workers and extending the amount of time that it will be available for. Thank you all.
No musician left behind
However, we absolutely must not forget the 45% of musicians who are currently not covered by SEISS. No musician should be left to fall through the cracks in the Government’s current support schemes.
Please continue to write to Rishi, and to your MPs, calling on them to:
- Provide meaningful support for musicians who have been self-employed for less than a year.
- Allow musicians who are part self-employed (at less than 50% of their total annual income) to access support through the Self-employment Income Support Scheme.
- Remove the £50,000 cap in the Self-employment Income Support Scheme, as no equivalent cap exists for employed people, and pay people up to the cap.
- Support for self-employed musicians who run as limited companies and pay themselves in dividends through the Self-employment Income Support Scheme.
- Ensure that musicians who have taken time off from work for maternity / parental reasons are not discriminated against.
- Speed up the Universal Credit application process up to cover the gap until support via the Self-employment Income Support Scheme is made available in June, or put in place an alternative method of covering the income gap.
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