Government to pay self-employed

Get straight to the good stuff every day with the Multiply Minute; a lightning-quick round-up of the money news and how it affects you.

Help for the self-employed

Yesterday Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that self-employed people can get a grant worth 80% of their profits, up to £2,500 a month. It's open to anyone who earns over half of their income from self-employment, has profits of up to £50,000 a year, and filed a return for the 2018-19 tax year. Those eligible will be contacted by HMRC, and the grant will be paid from the start of June.

“Don’t move house”

The government has paralysed the housing market with an instruction to wannabe home buyers and sellers that they should put their plans on hold. Technically, you are allowed to sell your home but you can’t let anyone view it. The order has caused confusion; some banks are suspending all new mortgage applications while others have extended offers to give people more time to complete.

G20 pledges

Boris Johnson has pledged £210 million to help find a vaccine for coronavirus, making the UK the single biggest donor to the research effort. In a 20-way video conference between the leaders of the world’s richest countries, the Prime Minister also promised millions for testing and treatments.

More term-time holidays

More parents than ever are taking their children out of lessons for cheaper term-time family holidays, instead of going during school breaks. Parents get slapped with a £60 fine if their kids skip school. Data shows 333,400 fines were issued last year (paywall) up from just 25,000 a decade ago.