Aid fund announced for self-employed workers

Self-employed workers in Orkney will be able to apply for a grant worth 80 per cent of their average monthly profits, the UK Government has announced.

The UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the news, but the money will not begin to arrive until the start of June at the earliest.

The scheme will not cover people who have become self-employed very recently.

The scheme will be open to those with a trading profit of less than £50,000 in 2018/19 or an average trading profit of less than £50,000 from 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.

To qualify, more than half of their income in these periods must come from self-employment.

Mr Sunak said: “The package for the self-employed I’ve outlined today is one of the most generous in the world that has been announced so far. It targets support to those who need help most, offering the self-employed the same level of support as those in work.”