NEW: Calculate surplus earnings in your Benefit and Budgeting calculator

Update: Surplus earnings and irregular earnings

Many self-employed people will be receiving a grant through the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) this month. These payments can be up to £7,500 and will be counted as earnings under Universal Credit.

As a result, many self-employed households will be affected by the complex 'surplus earnings' rules for the first time. In short, these rules mean that for many households, the SEISS money will be taken into account as earnings not just for the month it was received, but for future months as well.

You can hear our Head of Policy, Zoe Charlesworth, give a detailed explanation of the surplus earnings rule in a recent webinar here (listen from 25:39 to 27:57)

We have amended the calculator to allow you to enter irregular earnings and to estimate these for up to 12 months. The impact of irregular earnings and the interaction with regular income will be shown through the calendar functionality.

This will help you to provide advice to people with seasonal work and zero-hours contracts, as well as people who are self-employed, and those receiving one-off larger payments (such as the SEISS).

Free support page on Your income and Coronavirus (COVID-19)

We have created a welfare support page Your income and Coronavirus (COVID-19) to clearly show what support you might get if your income is affected by Coronavirus. We are updating this page with each announcement by the Government. Please feel free to link to it on your own websites and other communication channels to help your residents understand what support they are eligible for if they or their businesses are impacted by Coronavirus.

View our Coronavirus welfare support page