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by willforster on 12 May, 2020
The Lib Dems are urging the Government to extend income support for self-employed workers after they declared victory in convincing the Government to extend furlough payments for employers, preventing redundancies.
Acting Leader of the Lib Dems, Ed Davey MP, who is asking the public to join his campaign to protect workers, warned “taxi drivers, hairdressers, cleaners, childcare providers and millions of other self-employed people are still not getting the help they need.”
The call comes after the Chancellor annouced the Job Retention Scheme, currently covering nearly a quarter of UK jobs, will continue to October with employees receiving 80% of their monthly wages up to £2,500.
The Furlough scheme has helped protect jobs and it is something the Lib Dems have campaigned to protect. So I am delighted the Government has done just that and adopted many of our ideas.
However there are still millions of people that need significant help through this challenging period. Some who moved jobs but were not on their new employer’s payroll by mid-March have fallen into a crack in the system and need much more help.
The lockdown has also been extremely difficult for many self employed people. Taxi drivers, hairdressers, cleaners, childcare providers and millions of other self-employed people are still not getting the help they need.
The Coronavirus crisis has left countless families facing financial hardship, with unemployment on the rise. We must protect families and our economy for the long term.
The Lib Dems led the campaign for a Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, which will finally open tomorrow. But the Government must extend this scheme too. Self-employed people have waited far too long for this support, and they must not see it snatched away too early.
1 Comment
The Chancellor is, quite rightly, pointing out the difference between employed and self-employed working and has stated that many self-employed work in sectors that have not had to close. Conversely, many self employed businesses operate in the consumer service area – hairdressers, taxi drivers, cleaners, dog walkers, child-minders, gardeners etc – providing services that will be hit by reduced demand while a) employees are furloughed or following advice to work from home and can (often), therefore, carry out these services themselves, b) social distancing measures remain in place, c) lockdown restrictions re travel and transport are not totally lifted d) schools are not fully open – meaning many parents are forced to stay at/work from home and e) consumer spending is depressed. Extending the furlough scheme for the employed places extended pressures on many, many small businesses for the above reasons, whether or not they have been instructed to close. I, for one (and I am sure many would concur) would be more than happy to subject myself to the possibility of a random check, under which I was asked to prove (via bank records, correspondence with customers, social media business posts etc – and also CFSG guidance, that would impact my profits even if all my customers swiftly returned) to prove the negative impact of the current crisis on my business. The government could impose fines on anyone found to be making a false declaration re the effect of the virus on a business – and this would go some way to preventing false claims. Many self-employed tax payers will be forced into poverty if there is no extension of the scheme – even a tapered scheme would be better than nothing…