On 11 May the UK Government published its COVID-19 recovery strategy for England, called Our plan to rebuild. The document sets out a three-stage roadmap to lifting restrictions. A key message is that there can be no relaxing of all social distancing measures right now.
You can read Our plan to rebuild here.
Devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own measures in place which differ from the approach taken in England. Essentially their restrictions on working have not been eased. Their approaches can be summarised as follows:
- Scotland – Lockdown restrictions remain in place for Scotland and the Scottish Government is not currently encouraging more people to go back to work. Find out more here.
- Wales – Apart from modest changes in Wales, the advice remains to stay at home. In an announcement made on 8 May, the Welsh Government extended restrictions for a further three weeks. Find out more here.
- Ireland – On 12 May, the Northern Ireland Executive published a five-step roadmap to end restrictions. The steps are not time bound to allow for flexibility. Their decision-making approach can be found here.
CNHC’s guidance to Registrants
In light of all the above, CNHC’s current guidance remains in place – ‘hands-on’ complementary therapies for the disciplines we register cannot take place until further notice.
We will be monitoring further Government announcements closely and will keep you informed.
In the meantime, we are working on return to practice guidance for our Registrants, so that you can start to prepare for the return to practising face to face when this can finally go ahead.
Support if you are self-employed and unable to work
As there is no definite date for returning to practising hands-on, if you are self-employed or a member of a partnership you may want to check if you are eligible to claim a grant through the Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). You can do this via the eligibility checker on the Gov.uk website.
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme – Update
On 26th March 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunack confirmed that the Government would be creating a Coronavirus Self-employment Income Support Scheme for those that have been adversely affected by Covid-19. The scheme currently allows you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £7,500 in total.
If you’re eligible and haven’t yet claimed, you have until the 13th July 2020. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme
On 29th May, the Chancellor announced that this scheme is being extended. You’ll be able to make a claim for a second and final grant in August 2020.
The online service for the second and final grant is not available yet. We will update this guidance to let you know when you can make your claim.
If you’re eligible the second and final grant will be a taxable grant worth 70% of your average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering a further 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £6,570 in total. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme#extension
