Jeff Smith MP has written to the Chancellor calling for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) to be extended as a matter of urgency.

Following the closure of schools and businesses as the UK entered into lockdown in March, many self-employed people faced losing their livelihoods as business collapsed and bookings were cancelled.

As a result of the constituents who contacted Jeff to raise their concerns about this, he wrote the following letter to the Chancellor on 30th March:

The government then announced details of the SEISS, which many welcomed as a way to help self-employed people to cope with the loss of businesss.

However, the scheme is limited and currently only offers support for three months. Once this has run out, many people will be left no way of operating their business and without any government help.

With this in mind, Jeff is calling on the government to extend the SEISS to support self-employed people and their businesses over the difficult months ahead.

Jeff said:

“As someone who used to be self-employed in the music industry, I understand the struggles that self-employed people are facing as a result of the current crisis.

Although I welcomed the announcement of the government scheme, it is clear that it does not go far enough and will leave people with no means of making an income after the scheme ends.

The government should review the scheme and extend it as a matter of urgency in order to ensure that self-employed people are not left struggling.”