Indeed, genuine self employed that are already established on the HMRC system and up to date with tax returns for previous years, will get 80 % of 3 months profit averaged over a year, capped at £2500 (which then becomes taxable) so no getting any with that, but if you are unfortunate enough to be a "Director" of some dodgy tax evasion scheme then expect some fairly detailed digging to occur before they pay you anything. The general advice seems to be if one falls in the later category, for the sake of a few months let sleeping dogs lay. Your silver lining may become your black cloud