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Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by James Murray (Labour). It was answered on Tuesday, 27 April 2021 on behalf of the Treasury.

Covid-19: Support for Self-employed People

Question

In a recent letter to me, the Financial Secretary admitted that 710,000 freelancers who receive a portion of their income from dividends have missed out on covid support schemes. He recognised that most people are honest in their dealings with HMRC, but said that concerns over fraud meant

“it has not been possible to support everyone in the way they might want”.

The Government have had a year to put in place a process with adequate safeguards. Why have they given up?

Answer

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. Of course, there was no admission of any kind. He asked me a question, and I responded comprehensively and fully to the question he put. The fact of the matter is that many of the people we are talking about have other forms of income. They may have pension income. They may have dividend income. They may have property income. What we have tried to do is use all the sources of information that we have that are properly assessed and certified in order to get schemes up and running—as fast as anywhere in the world, and that is an astonishing achievement. We continue to use those schemes, and we continue to work with groups to see whether others can be included.

Secondary information

Type
Oral question
Reference
693 c224 
Session
2019-21
Oral question type
Supplementary
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Government assistance Self-employed Coronavirus
Link
View this Oral question on hansard.parliament.uk