FOI Request - Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund.

Request 101002519794

Under FOISA, please provide various information about the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund.

I attache an Excel sheet with two tabs which I would like to be completed.

In particular, the information requested is:
• Funding recieved from Scottish Government
• Numbr of people Scottish Goverment advised eligible in Local Authority
• Numbr of applications received
• Numbr of applications awarded
• Numbr of applications rejected
• Total spend to date
• Funding remaining
And in terms of the rejected applications, the reasons for rejection (based on the eligibility criteria):
• applicant became self-employed before 6 April 2019 (submitted a tax return including income from self-employment for 2018-19)
• less than 50% of applicant's income is from self-employment
• applicants trading profits were above £50,000 in financial year 2019-20
• applicant has not lost business due to coronavirus and are suffering financial hardship as a result
• applicant is eligible for other COVID-19 related business support (including the Business Interruption Loan Schemes, Corporate Finance Fund, Job Retention Schemes, Future Fund, R&D Focussed SMEs Fund, HMRC Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, Non-Domestic Rates relief, Small Business Grant or other business support)
• applicant receives working age benefit payments (Universal Credit, Statutory Sick Pay, Employment and Support Allowance, Job Seekers’ Allowance, Income Support) or have applied for but not yet started receiving Universal Credit or an advanced payment of Universal Credit
• applicant does not trade as self-employed, but as a limited company
• applicant has not taken steps to limit costs and expenditure (including through schemes such as VAT deferral and seeking a mortgage payment holiday)
• applicant has access to sufficient savings or other sources of income to meet basic needs