To think self-employed mums are being screwed over in this support package?

[AiryFairyMum]

I dutifully did my claim for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme this morning.

I am self-employed but can't work at the moment because my industry is closed. I have always paid my tax on time, and should have been eligible for 80% of my usual profits (not takings, but that's another story). But because I took maternity leave four years ago and didn't earn as much in that one year, my average is lower, and I'm losing out on a big chunk of what I should be able to apply for.

AIBU to think that maternity leave should be exempt from the calculation for support?

[zscaler]

YANBU, and it’s a pretty clear breach of EU law as well.

[1805]

I wrote to MP but he was not helpful.
I don't understand why all workers are not treated the same. Why not just stop help for everyone earning £50k?

[SerendipitySunshine]

I agree - if is structural discrimination and should be challenged. Can your MP help?

[Prisonbreak]

My business was only up and running 4 months so I can’t claim a penny. Not able to get the £10000 either as I don’t own the building. Not eligible for UC due to boyfriend wage ( also self employed)
I’d much rather take whatever your getting

[Student58]

But some SE people will actually be better off than they usually would on this scheme as you can work and claim the grant. You have to have less profit to claim the grant but you don't have to have nothing.

So yes its in every way unfair, but a fair scheme would have taken years to work out.

[Northernsoulgirl45]

Yep I am very part time self employed due to caring responsibility. But this year and to a degree last year I took on more work but I won't get credit for this.
Thankfully dh is still on full pay for now but will be part time soon.
No idea if I will even have work in July.
Yet people constantly go on about the generous support package for self employed. What a joke.

[Bflatmajorsharp]

1805 there was a petition about this when the measures were first announced, but I don't think that it gathered much momentum.

I do agree with you, but to most people £50k pa is a huge amount of money and people earning this aren't particularly a group to garner sympathy.

Which I can understand in the current economic circumstances tbh. Over 2 million people have claimed Universal Credit in the last two months for example, and there hasn't been much said about this either.

[Bflatmajorsharp]

I think it's unlikely, given social distancing and the fact that most businesses have been closed for a couple of months now, that people who have been furloughed have got an additional job at all, let alone one paying £100k pa tbh.

I think it's fair to say that furloughed people who have doubled their income are few and far between.

But the sensible point in this hyperbole stands - it would have been more equitable for the self employed grant to be capped at the same rate per month as the furlough regardless of income.

[1805]

Xenia
yes, so so unfair. I don't understand why this hasn't had more publicity. And as for Sunak saying the SE people earning over £50k have an average salary of £200k is useless. What are the £51k earners supposed to do??

[Xenia]

Yes, the sole tradver v furlough PAYE people is so unfair - eg the furlough person could normally be on £20m a year and would still get the £2k a month. Many furlough people are allowed to get the £2k and then get a second job which could even be £100k a year and still get the furlough money! Some have doubled their income on furlough for that reason alone.

[Oliversmumsarmy]

Friends stbxh has been putting down he is on a minuscule salary so can’t pay her any maintenance. (Cash business and so she couldn’t claim anything from him)

He is wild. She thinks he was earning close to £50,000 per year . Now he is only getting 80% of an amount under £10,000.

[1805]

Sole trader family here in the South East. Not a penny for us either. It makes me very angry how the SE are being treated differently to Employees. It's looking like our industry might be shut until the end of the year. Thats more than we have saved up. We have a bit of income coming in from a side line, which means we can't apply for Universal Credit either.

[Easilyanxious]

I know someone furloughed on page and they aren't getting there full wage as they worked less hours up until about 7 months ago and there furlough was calculated from last years wages or similar so not just the self employed

[NC4Now]

I took a staff job for a year, which straddles two tax years, which means my self employed income only shows half a year’s earnings for 2017/18 and 2018/19. It’s cut my payment right down, which is shit considering the tax I paid for those years.
It’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing.

[zoemum2006]

@IllegalFred strangely harsh reply given I've already said I'm living off my savings.

[IllegalFred]

Yes, if they've taken a small salary and large dividends then the furlough amount will be low but it's still more than the sole trader with over 50k profits who is entitled to nothing.

And frankly the IT contractors operating as Ltd companies should have enough put by to withstand a few months out of work.

I am a Ltd company director btw.

[zoemum2006]

@IllegalFred You can claim 80% of PAYE but most company directors pay themselves in dividends (on which you pay corporation tax and dividend tax... ).

I could claim a very small amount but I'd have to furlough myself but I am still working a bit but I'd have to pretend I wasn't. I don't feel comfortable with that that scenario.

I'm not really moaning. It is what it is. I just hope business recovers eventually.

[AiryFairyMum]

Thanks so much @reversiblesequinsforadults

That's the issue, that it affects women far more than men.

And, yes, I took some maternity leave. I saved really hard so we could afford it. Should I not have done?

[Bflatmajorsharp]

IllegalFred I'm sure an actual company director will be able to explain it better than me, but I think most income is dividends rather than salary.

[Reversiblesequinsforadults]

Signed and shared

[IllegalFred]

yes it's very unfair that there is no support for company directors.

I thought company directors who paid themselves a salary could furlough themselves and claim 80%?

[Viviennemary]

I think the furlough scheme is a fairly generous one and I can't think how it's going to be paid for. Illness too brings the average wage down so I don't think maternity leave should be a special case.

[Bflatmajorsharp]

The problem with how maternity and adoption leave affects the amount due to each person is that the disparity is structural.

It is only women who take maternity leave and overwhelmingly women who take adoption leave.

It's obviously extremely unfortunate for SE people to be unable to work for a long period of time due to ill health, but that's misfortune not structural inequality. No less shit, but not sexual discrimination.

[zoemum2006]

@Bflatmajorsharp Yep. That's us. I'm just glad we saved up a bit of money in case of a no deal Brexit. Didn't envision needing it for a pandemic!

[Bflatmajorsharp]

Sorry, it was Maternity Allowance when I was SE. Same rate as SMP (although I did receive a bit more for the first six weeks when I was employed).

Do you think that SE women shouldn't take maternity leave?

How odd.