More than two million people have applied for government grants through the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS).

The scheme aims to support self-employed workers in a similar way to the coronavirus job retention scheme for furloughed employees.

It offers self-employed people a taxable grant of 80% of their monthly trading profits up to £2,500.

Successful applicants are paid in a lump sum to cover three months, and payments are capped at £7,500 in total.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said successful claimants are receiving the grants within six days, and that more than £6 billion has been paid out so far.

HMRC contacted around 3.5 million of the UK's five million self-employed population to invite them to apply for the emergency funds.

According to Sunak, more than half of those have already submitted claims since the SEISS went live on 13 May 2020.

It is currently open until 30 June 2020, although this is under constant review and may be extended if necessary.

We can advise on eligibility for the scheme.