The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak yesterday (March 26) announced a long awaited financial support package for those who are self-employed.

The Self-Employed Income Support Scheme will offer a taxable grant of up to 80% of a self-employed person's income based on their tax return over the past three years, capped at £2,500 per month.

It is open to anyone who is self-employed (and makes a majority of their earnings from self-employment) with trading profits of £50,000 or less and have already received a tax return for 2019.

The scheme will become available at the beginning of June and will initially last for three months.

Payments will be back dated from March 1, 2020 and if you are eligible you will be contacted directly by HMRC.

You will then be able to fill in an online form and the grant will be paid directly into your bank account.

In addition, to those who are late with filing their latest tax return, there will be an additional period of four weeks to complete these.

The Chancellor when questioned also stated that for those who do not have three years worth of accounts, HMRC will be basing it on whatever number of tax returns are available.

Self-employed people will also now be able to access the Universal Credit system in full.

Devon County Council Leader, John Hart, pledged the authority will do whatever it can to support residents and communities through the Coronavirus outbreak.

"This is an unprecedented situation and many residents will be deeply worried about themselves, their families and how they are going to cope over the coming weeks," he said.

I want to assure everyone that the whole council is working flat out alongside our partners in the NHS, districts and others to make sure we put everything we can in place to help people through this.

"We will do everything it takes to keep our care system fully functioning and ease the immense pressure our hospitals are facing.

We are working with schools, nurseries and colleges to provide the care and support our key workers need to continue in their vital roles.

"We will redeploy our own staff and resources as necessary to help keep essential services up and running.

"And we will work with the Local Enterprise Partnership to support and advise local businesses via the Growth Hub as best we can.

"Our people and communities are already demonstrating the strong community spirit which has helped us through previous crises.

"All across the county, town and parish councils and community groups are setting up volunteer schemes to keep an eye on their more vulnerable neighbours.

"I know many of us who remain healthy and mobile are already offering our support and I urge more people to do the same."

Other actions include:

• A suspension of non-urgent council meetings (pending a relaxation of government rules on democratic processes)

• A move to digital invoicing for the council's suppliers to ensure quick payment and help cash flow for local businesses

• The physical closure of library buildings to the public and suspension of mobile library services and events - loan periods are being relaxed and access to digital books is being extended

• A relaxation of rules relating to bus passes to enable older people to access shops before 9.30am and enable people to take advantage of dedicated shopping times for older people being offered by some supermarkets

Small Business Grant Schemes:

If you are eligible for the small business grant scheme or the retail and hospitality grant scheme, then your local authority will be contacting you by post in the next few days to give you further information.

The letter will be sent to the business rates contact address of businesses who might be eligible for the cash grants.

Please look out for this letter at your business rates contact address as it will contain a unique reference number to enable you to apply online.

Eligible businesses will be asked to apply online on Devon County Councils' website in order for a payment to be made direct into their business bank account.

The payment should be received by eligible businesses in early April.

Beware of scammers:

Please be aware that there have been reports of scammers posing as the council contacting you about grant funding and asking for your bank details.

Local authorities will not call, you will receive a letter from them with details as described above.

Do not share your bank details over the phone.

Virtual Jelly South West:

Jelly South West will be conducting virtual sessions on Wednesday's at 1pm.

They will have regular talks and is a great opportunity to keep in contact with other local small businesses and freelancers.

Here's what they say about the sessions: "Come and check in. Listen to a talk, share your thoughts, ideas, problems - let us keep the freelancer, small business, start-up support community strong.

"Or just pop by for a giggle and don't worry if your kids are home, let them run about or join in. Or even better, they can make you coffee!"

The sessions will take place through a virtual Zoom meeting. The details are below:

Join Zoom Meeting - just click here.

Meeting ID: 708 758 4398 for anyone with an existing Zoom account.

Future Farming Resilience:

Devon County Council has launched a new project, funded by Defra, to help support farmers who are not currently prepared for the changes to their Direct Basic Payments.

Farmers in Mid or East Devon with lowland grazing farms - mainly beef and sheep farms - will be eligible to apply.

What's involved?

Farmers who sign up to the project will be offered an initial conversation with an experienced farm business advisor.

The advisor will supply the latest update on government plans to transfer funding away from direct support, towards the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme and its associated timescales.

The advisor will then complete an initial diagnostic of the farm, exploring all aspects and income streams of the current business in addition to the farmer's future aspirations.

It will specifically investigate likely future income projections over five years as the direct payment decreases to zero in 2027 and assess the potential for additional or growth income streams to offset the loss of direct payment revenue.

This information will be analysed, resulting in an action report and recommendations for discussion between farmer and advisor.

Who's eligible to take part?

We are looking for farmers in Mid and East Devon, running lowland grazing farms. To be eligible to take part in this project, you must not have exceed the Agricultural De Minimis threshold for state aid, of 20,000 Euros.

If you are unsure whether you have exceeded this, please get in touch and we can check this for you.

In addition, you must not be participating in any other Defra funded Future Farming Resilience projects.

This project came to fruition before Covid-19, however, the project will continue and be adapted to ensure it is in line with the government's current advice.

Places are limited to 30 farms, so please get in touch as soon as possible to secure your place.

To register interest in being one of the 30 farms that will work with Devon County Council, or if you have any questions, email [email protected], telephone 01392 381860 or click here for the website.