Today the Scottish Government announced the eligibility criteria and launched the application process for the additional funding support.  I have summarised the details below, as always you can get in touch if you have any questions about your specific situation.

I hope you have all been enjoying the sunshine today, making heading into another weekend of lockdown a little easier for some of us.

There has been a further announcement this week from the Scottish Government which will bring long awaited support to newly self employed individuals as well as further support for Creative industries, Hospitality and Tourism.  I have outlined the limited information that has been released so far, below, and I will send out another update as soon as the eligibility criteria becomes available or application process becomes live.

I hope you have all been having a restful weekend.  I'm providing an update on the information ahead of the furlough scheme launch tomorrow.

I hope you are all still healthy and safe as we approach the end of another week in lockdown!  According to the statistics today, it seems UK deaths are down slightly from yesterday, which may indicate that we are reaching a peak in the pandemic, but they have also said that high death numbers will continue for a period of time, and this will not encourage the relaxing of social distancing measures.  We extend our heart-felt thanks to the NHS and all front line workers, who are risking their lives to care for the sick, and will be forever indebted to them.  

Thank you for your patience, and apologies that we haven't been in touch since last week.  The truth is, we didn't have any new information to give you, and we have been concentrating our efforts in getting through outstanding self assessments for clients to ensure that all self assessments for the 2018-19 period are filed before the 23rd of this month, to guarantee that they will be able to get the Government support on offer.

I hope life is being kind to you all, and you are managing to keep your sanity as the strange times continue!

I am just pulling together a list of points, that have surfaced over the last few days as the promises made by way of support, are firmed up with some online guidance to answer some of our questions.  It has to be said that the guidance is still vague, and there are a few scenarios that aren't covered, but we hope that as the days and weeks pass, more information will come to light as the Government respond to some of the questions that remain unanswered.

Tonight Rishi Sunak announced further measures to support the self employed earners, who have previously been told Universal Credit or Employment Support Allowance would be their only option of support.  He has tonight promised to provide grant funding to any self employed earners to reimburse 80% of their NET monthly profits, for the next 3 months up to a value of £2,500 per month, and the option to extend this if required.  This would mean in order to get the full £2,500 you would need to be earning £3,125 per month (80% of which, is £2,500).

I picked up on another couple of bits of information today, which I have outlined below in relation to VAT and Limited Company Year End filing requirements.
There was also a bill proposed to Parliament on Monday to provide a more comprehensive benefit scheme for self employed sole traders and freelancers.  It is proposed to reimburse upto 80% of your NET monthly income.  This will be assessed by taking an average of the last 3 years tax calculations (SA302s).

Boris Johnson tonight announced stricter measures to combat the spread of the Corona Virus, by ordering all shops, places of worship and non-essential workplaces to close and non essential travel to immediately cease.  Please just follow the government guidelines, stay at home or self isolate where required, and hopefully we can be over the worst of this in weeks rather than months.

We have just went through the application process for the £10,000 grant funding, via West Dunbartonshire Council, to ascertain what is involved, this can be accessed by setting up a My Gov Scot Account, through the link below and is fairly straightforward