Claims worth more than £5 billion made for second Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant

New HMRC statistics show that 2 million claims made by 31 August 2020, with average value of £2,500

Claims worth more than £5 billion have been made for the second Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant, according to new HMRC statistics.

In Self-Employment Income Support Scheme statistics: September 2020, published today, HMRC provides figures on the number and value of claims to the SEISS up to 31 August 2020, including -

• by 31 August, 2 million (60 per cent) of the potentially eligible population had claimed a second SEISS grant, with the value of these claims totalling £5.1 billion;
• the average value per claim was £2,500;
• around two-thirds of the potentially eligible population are male (2.3 million);
• a lower proportion of potentially eligible females have claimed a SEISS grant (54 per cent) compared to males (62 per cent);
• the average claim for females is also lower at £2,000 compared to the average claim for males of £2,700;
• around 90 per cent of claimants are aged between 25 and 64 and take-up of the grant in those age groups is at or above 56 per cent;
• the sector with the highest number of potentially eligible individuals and the highest proportion of claims is the construction industry - by 31 August, construction workers had made 693,000 claims for SEISS totalling £2.1bn; and
• the two regions with the highest number of claims are London (390,000) and the South East (292,000), reflecting their relative sizes.

NB - HMRC has also published today an analysis of Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claims for the period up to 31 July 2020.

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme statistics: September 2020 are available from gov.uk