Coronavirus Support Package for Directors / Shareholders of small Limited Co's.
101,094 people signed this petition to the UK Parliament after it opened on 3 April 2020; it closed on 3 October 2020. The Government responded on 5 June 2020.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Coronavirus Support Package for Directors / Shareholders of small Limited Co's.
Provide a COVID-19 Support Package in line with that offered to the Employed and Self-Employed.
There are many owner managed businesses in the UK who own and operate under a Limited Company who have lost all their income like the employed and self-employed who have already been advised they will receive a support package.
Please make sure that they are looked after in line with the other taxpayers.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 5 June 2020; the petitions site lists the HM Treasury as responsible. Its summary:
The Government has announced an unprecedented package of support for those adversely affected by Covid-19, including support available to owner-managers operating under a Limited Company.
The response in full:
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) is available to employers and individuals, including owner-managers operating under a limited company, who pay themselves a salary through a PAYE scheme. Employers can use a portal to claim for 80 per cent of the usual monthly wage costs of furloughed employees (employees on a leave of absence) up to £2,500 a month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance Contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions for that wage. This means owner-managers can furlough themselves and claim for 80 per cent of their usual monthly PAYE wage costs, up to £2,500 a month. More details about the CJRS are available at www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.
Dividends are not covered by the CJRS. Income from dividends is a return on investment in the company, rather than wages; under current reporting mechanisms it is not possible for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to distinguish between dividends derived from an individual’s own company and dividends from other sources, and between dividends in lieu of employment income and as returns from other corporate activity.
HMRC designed the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) using information they already had, in order to make it deliverable quickly and to minimise the risk of fraud. Expanding the scope would have required HMRC to collect and verify new information. This would have taken longer to deliver and put at risk the other schemes which the Government committed to delivering in a timely way.
Finally, these schemes supplement the other significant support the Government has announced. Individuals can benefit from the Government’s relaxation of the earnings rules (known as the Minimum Income Floor) in Universal Credit. Further support for UK businesses includes the Bounce Back Loans Scheme for small businesses, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the deferral of tax payments. More information about the full range of business support measures is available at www.gov.uk/government/collections/financial-support-for-businesses-during-coronavirus-covid-19
HM Treasury
This is a revised response. The Petitions Committee requested a response which more directly addressed the request of the petition. You can find the original response towards the bottom of the petition page (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/310515)
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 559, came from Esher and Walton.
100,630 of the signatures were from the UK and 464 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| Esher and Walton | 559 |
| Hove | 541 |
| Brighton, Pavilion | 518 |
| Hackney North and Stoke Newington | 499 |
| Hackney South and Shoreditch | 481 |
| Twickenham | 481 |
| Hornsey and Wood Green | 462 |
| Richmond Park | 432 |
| Ealing Central and Acton | 407 |
| South West Hertfordshire | 407 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| South East | 18,865 |
| London | 18,305 |
| East of England | 10,103 |
| South West | 9,996 |
| North West | 9,882 |
| West Midlands | 6,641 |
| East Midlands | 6,225 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 6,020 |
| Scotland | 5,790 |
| Wales | 3,102 |
| North East | 2,252 |
| Northern Ireland | 992 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on .
The Petitions Committee's summary of the debate:
Because the issues raised by this petition have already been considered by Select Committees and debated in the House of Commons, the Committee has agreed not schedule this petition for debate.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/310515.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
4abaae38af3895a5… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.