Covid self isolation payments
Case reference FOI2021/00275
Published 20 January 2022
Request
Re: Self-Employed Support During the Covid Pandemic
Please can you provide information on the following questions regarding access to the Self-Isolation Support Grant in the local authority of Herefordshire Council during the Covid pandemic.
All questions refer to the time period between March 2020 and up to the latest available data.
Q1. How many individuals have applied for the Self-Isolation Support Grant of £500? Please include a month-by-month breakdown.
Q2. How many of those applications were made by self-employed people?
Q3. How many of applications made by self-employed people automatically received the payment due to being on existing benefit schemes such as Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Working Tax Credits, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Income Support, and Housing Benefit?
Q4. How many self-employed people who were not on benefits received the Self-Isolation Support Grant of £500?
Q5. How many applications for the Self-Isolation Support Grant of £500 made by self-employed people were rejected and what were the top three reasons for rejection in these circumstances.
Q6. What was the total expenditure on Self-Isolation Support Grant of £500 made for self-employed people?
Response
Q1. The scheme did not start until October 2020 and so no information is held prior to that date. Please note that the total of applications made each month have not been recorded. 1595 applications were received in total from October 2020 to 23 December 2021.
Q2. 311 applications were received by self-employed people (included in answer to Question 1)
Q3. No applications automatically receive the payment if they are in receipt of an eligible benefit as there are other criteria that has to be met. Payments made to self-employed under the main scheme i.e. in receipt of an eligible benefit was 143.
Q4. 73 were paid who were not in receipt of eligible benefits.
Q5. In total 95 were rejected. There are no top three reasons for rejection. Applications are only rejected if they do not met the criteria for either the main or discretionary scheme.
Q6. £108,000
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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