Self employed and No sick pay what are we meant to do ?

[marshgame]

What happens for the self employed if they need to quarantine themselves as el t get paid (not an option for Dh to work from home)
What is in place to help others like us aibu to be worried

It’s just a what if if the advice is given work from home
We have a child who is severely immunocompromised

I’m the same OP
I have lots of little self employed jobs which I just about get by on, on a weekly basis. I don’t make enough yet to build up a safety net of money.
I’ve read that we can apply for universal credit but doesn’t that take ages to come through? Still it would be better than nothing.

That’s what I was thinking it can take w few weeks can’t it ?
We will have to see if can apply for a credit card for emergencies

OP - what on earth will you do when it's time to pay your annual tax return if you haven't been putting money aside for it?

DH is a self employed electrician so I completely understand your worry & hope it won't happen to us but if it does we'd at least have that for an emergency

I’ve been worrying about that too, OP. I work from home as a dog minder and I’ve already had people cancelling their holidays, due to the increased risk abroad. I also have clients, over the next two days alone, coming from Italy, Singapore and Thailand. One of them is coming from Italy and has decided to self isolate for two weeks, AFTER she’s been to mine, to pick up her dogs.

OP - what on earth will you do when it's time to pay your annual tax return if you haven't been putting money aside for it?

I can only speak for me, but I rely on the summer holiday season to build up my funds and pay my tax. I did have a few thousand saved but have already had to use that to get in extra help due to an operation and an injury later in the year.

Have savings to cover yourself in sickness and/or have insurance for more serious illnesses but guessing it's a bit late for that, so probably UC/ESA

Yes its shit. I'm also self employed, have just paid my tax bill and have also just made a big investment to my business. My business is going to suffer tremendously so I may have a very reduced income while this is all happening.

I really get cross with peoples vile comments about the self employed/small business owners. Really snippy and unnecessary.

Employed people in my industry may lose their jobs when the company they work for goes into administration. Are you going to say to all of the. 'Well you should have enough savings"?

It's not a vile comment, it's common sense.

The same common sense to be aware of the amount of notice period you have when you are on PAYE, to know what the maximum you can expect if you are sacked/redundant... It's not meant to be nasty, it's a genuine question.

I'm going to check with our insurance company to see if our Key Man insurance covers isolation due to Corona Virus. So I would check with your insurance provider.

Same here. No pay if I cannot work. Same for anyone employed also who is on SASP even as pay only kicks in at day 4 and lots of people cannot afford losing 3 days of pay.
Also SSP isn ot your full wage which means for higher earners who probably have a higher rent and high full time childcare costs for their baby which they have to carry on paying otherwise they lose the nanny, child minder, nursery etc there is no pay for 3 days whilst they have to pay out 3 days of rent etc etc.

What will happen is people will not self isolate because they cannot afford it. The state cannot start handing over loads of cash either because people will just make it all up and go and sit at home for 14 days whilst the state pays their £1000 a day (yes some on MN who are self employed may earn £1000 a day so taht is for those of us who work 6 or 7 days a week even £14k for 2 weeks in isolation. it may even be longer as I am not sure 14 days is really long enough in terms of getting a test result back from the NHS and being 100% sure someone doesn't have it without symptoms.;

Honestly, OP, your best bet is hand sanitizer by the front door and regular handwashing. Your DH will have to keep working unless he knows for sure he has it. I would focus on a plan for school infection and talk to your doctor about the next steps if your child is at risk.

Try not to worry OP, I'm pretty sure everything will be fine. SE people can claim something when they are sick but it i dont think it would be worth it for a week or two.

Being Self-Employed is bloody hard at the best of times so I understand where you are coming from!

We are looking at making a judgement to keep dc home from school before any official closure and then maybe that will be effective and I’ll have to lie someone said above keep hand sanitiser /decontaminate him after work daily and pray he doesn’t get unwell then we will safeguard unwell dc and also our income
I have anxiety anyway this has pushed it up

How do you know there will be official closures? Carry on as normal and stay away from all the doom and gloom threads.

I used to be self employed, so feel for you OP! In theory you should charge your clients more as a freelancer / self-employed person compared with what you would get paid if you worked for someone else. What business are you in? Our childminder has told us that she will carry on charging parents in case she has to close her setting because of CV. I presume she has a clause for force majeur in her T&C's. I do believe that this will affect thousands of people in already precarious roles, and I'm not sure the government has spend much thought yet on how to help them...

I had anxiety plus had OCD and specifically emetiphobia for many years last year I had intensive therapy and relaxed all my routines etc and for 4 months I actually felt so much better
Now this ! It’s really thrown me and I’m back with the clorox and sterizar and worrying and stressing about money and dh work I feel like it’s really set me back if I’m honest and I worked so hard to overcome it you could t make it up this is the sort of scenario I was scared about and now after coming to terms with my own anxiety and overreaction and the low chances of anything like it i feel stressed

Anyone in your position needs to go to their local MP's surgery (go in person) to explain your situation. Perhaps when confronted with a personal risk they might be motivated to do something.

The government could (and should) set up an apply online crisis loan or grant.

I had even run down my stockpiles as my house was cluttered and they had been that way for years with stuff just then I used and out fo date and id replace it
Dh work situation worried me at the time but it was the only option so I was telling myself it would be ok now it feels like I’m going to be in a situation financially and anxiety wise that I’ll struggle with

It must be really stressful for all self employed people, but as other posters have mentioned, if you are self employed you should be putting away quite a chunk of your earnings to cover your tax bill and for emergencies, illness, holidays etc.

I'm sorry op I don't want to sound mean, but maybe it's something you need to begin doing if you haven't already.

Does your DH work in a trade where he is in contact with people or is there a chance he could work from home?

It's not ideal, but taking out a credit card like you said might help tide you over for a few weeks, could you take a payment holiday from the mortgage? Call UC to discuss what you might be entitled to and how to apply, just in case, it might help reduce your anxiety and help you feel more prepared.

Have you discussed your worries with your DH yet?

I totally understand and we are in the same position. DH is self employed and we both work really hard, have a toddler, and still struggle to afford food most months. To lose a tenner is massive deal for us, so for DH to take two weeks off work we'd be completely unable to pay our rent.

We've had a chat about it and the plan is for DH to keep working even if he's ill and only stop if he physically can't keep going. And we're being positive that it won't have to come to it at all.

People who suggest OP should have planned/saved etc should appreciate that not everyone is SE by choice
I am but not everyone else is, sometimes you have to take what work you can get, even if it’s not ideal

Posters discussing savings are also very amusing. As if everyone can afford to save.

We've had a chat about it and the plan is for DH to keep working even if he's ill and only stop if he physically can't keep going

Does your DH come into contact with other people when he works?

Our childminder has told us that she will carry on charging parents in case she has to close her setting because of CV. I presume she has a clause for force majeur in her T&C's

That's not what a force majeure clause is for. It does not mean "I am not going to provide the service but you still have to pay me", it means that I cannot sue you for my losses resulting from your lack of providing the service.

So the CM cannot charge if she is not providing the service, but a parent cannot claim eg costs of emergency babysitters from her.