The UK government’s income support scheme for self-employed workers who have been impacted by coronavirus has opened for applications.

Farmers can check eligibility by entering their taxpayer reference and national insurance numbers into an online portal on the HMRC website.

Applicants are notified straight away if their application has been approved

At the start of the application process, HMRC states how much grant aid each eligible applicant is entitled to receive. It is based on 80% of average monthly profits for a three-month period and is capped at £7,500.

Applicants are notified straight away if their application has been approved and the grant aid is paid within six working days.

But ambiguity surrounds what HMRC deems to be “adversely affected by coronavirus”. Official guidance is light in detail and includes examples of businesses that have had interrupted supply chains or fewer customers because of COVID-19.

However, evidence does not need to be submitted with applications. Instead, applicants are required to tick a box confirming that their business has been affected by coronavirus.

For farmers who have had increased costs or reduced prices due to the pandemic, there is no option to apply for a bespoke amount of money if the financial hit is less than the level of grant aid on offer.

One local accountant pointed out that while the UK government’s job retention scheme for PAYE workers has been extended by four months

Guidance is particularly unclear for eligible businesses which have not been financially impacted by coronavirus yet, but expect to be affected over the coming months. HMRC state that the scheme might be extended, although there is no guarantee on this.

One local accountant pointed out that while the UK government’s job retention scheme for PAYE workers has been extended by four months, commercial rates relief for small businesses has not. “They don’t give much notice when schemes are ending,” he said.

The Irish Farmers Journal has also been contacted by several farmers who have had issues logging in to the application process. It requires a government gateway user ID but does not accept NI driving licences or Irish passports as a method of confirming identity. The only other option for online applicants is to answer questions about their credit history.

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