The Treasury Select Committee has found that over a million people have ‘fallen through the gaps’ of the government’s coronavirus (COVID-19) support schemes.
The Committee has made a series of recommendations to the government to help those in need of support. These include tackling the ‘cliff edge’ that exists in the design of the Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) by removing the £50,000 cap and finding a practical solution to supporting hundreds of thousands of limited company directors who are missing out on support because they pay themselves in dividends.
The Committee also recommends amending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to allow tronc payments made via Pay as You Earn (PAYE) to be included when calculating a worker’s pay when assessing entitlement.
Commenting on the matter, Mel Stride, Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, said: ‘The Chancellor has effectively drawn a line under helping the million-plus people who have been excluded from support for four months.
‘The Chancellor said that the schemes were designed to be open and accessible to as many people as possible, but the Committee remains to be convinced that more people could not have been helped.’
The Treasury Select Committee is calling on the government to enact the recommendations to fulfil its promise of ‘doing whatever it takes to protect people and businesses from the impact of COVID-19’.
