Anyone else terrified about not being able to work due to CV?

[JuanSheetIsPlenty]

Whether that’s due to school being closed, or clients cancelling, or me catching CV. I’m self employed. No work means no income at all. I’m just about meeting my bills now. If I don’t work I’m screwed. I rent privately. I don’t get any housing benefit. I’m getting really worried now.

@Reginabambina - absolutely not what I experienced happening & as I say, a very well known school.

It's not the parent's fault if you can't get (enough) insurance.

The insurance is in place. It’s the insurance providers that have chosen not to pay out.

Luckily I have some savings although earmarked for various things so I could afford to be off work unpaid if I have to . I know I'm fortunate as many live hand to mouth so it's going to cause a lot of problems long term . I'm hopeful that any closing of schools or self isolation will be temporary if it happens and worse case scenario if I or a member of my family catches Coronavirus then will cross that bridge when we come to it and try not worry too much .

OP, this is my family, my dh is self employed and his work will definitely go as soon as they close entertainment venues. We have thousands invested in a tour that won't happen.
I still say that lock down two weeks ago would have saved us a worst case scenario ito cases and deaths.
We will be skint too, just like many others.
It's scary times unless of course you are an ostrich.

YANBU. I agree and although I get full pay from my own work for two weeks that won’t apply if my household is unwell or if the schools are shut. That is a big worry for me. Not sure what we will do about bills. We cannot afford to lose any pay.

I'm a freelancer in the corporate events industry so I've already had most of my work cancel and the last event looks like it's going to go come tomorrow.

I then have no work now or on the horizon. And no likelihood of any appearing as all my clients (I work with other big event agencies) are all in the same boat. And have lots of salaried staff sitting around twiddling their fingers so freelance help just won't be needed.

I have a couple of months in the accounts then we are lucky to have an ISA that we can crack open to keep it going a bit longer

I'm just hoping that there will be a huge spike in activity after the peak has passed in the summer and I'll be worked to the bone in Autumn...

The insurance companies disgust me. They will take your money but they don’t want to pay out if anything happens.

I have no sympathy for them at all. Why should we go broke and not them? The way I see it, they have stolen my money.

And yes, the parents won’t pay. But nor will the staff get paid so there won’t be a nursery to come back to.

Nurseries do not make money, despite what parents seem to think. There are months where I have had to sell things to pay my staff, and my nursery is ‘successful’.

Even paying minimum wage costs nurseries a fortune when you factor in NI and pension payments. It’s not like other businesses - because of the childcare ratios, you need a lot of staff, and most of them won’t work for minimum wage (which in itself isn’t affordable).

I hear a lot of outrage from parents about how the staff are underpaid. But you can only pay out what comes in, and the fees hardly cover the costs - especially when you take astronomical rents into consideration.

The childcare industry is already teetering on the brink of collapse. This will push it over, and it is entirely the fault of the greedy, grasping insurance companies.

I am the only earner as my DH is disabled. Childcare is not an issue for us as DH is at home, however I'm not yet entitled to sick pay as in a new job, we have no overdraft or credit as our rating is bad, no family or friends to rely on. If I get sick or my work gets shut we will literally starve. Or lose our privately rented home. We get no housing help. The tax credits etc would cover either food, or rent. Not both.

I'm self-employed and work for schools, so if the schools shut, no work for me. We're not on the breadline and I have some savings but a month of shut schools would leave me with serious problems. I must dig out my insurance, but I doubt it'll pay up, unless I'm actually sick for longer than a month.

I'm self employed. I sell online. Getting stock involves travel and crowds of people. Getting purchases to customers involves a working courier network. If any of this breaks down I don't have any income.

I’m not in the uk but I’m a teacher and if our schools close we still get paid!! Thank god!!

Teachers here will continue to get paid. I don't know why you'd think otherwise?

@bluehighlighter that is good to know!! There are several threads with teachers in the uk announcing that they cannot afford to have the school close and loose wages! Do thy not know that will be paid?

@JuanSheetIsPlenty
That’s not true. It depends on the policy wording and insurers differ on this. A broker can review to highlight whose policies will cover this but obviously cover is already in place so it really does depend on your wording.

Sorry May, I don't have inside information, just would be very surprised if nobody was paid due to this. I should have shut up.

I know it's taking away a bit, but can we all remember that seasonal flu kills so many every year and we just seem to forget this. Literally 17,000 die a year just in England from flu....yet everyone doesn't panic with that or stay off to stop it spreading and killing people

Yes, I'm terrified. I lost money when flybe went bust. If I get clients cancelling due to travel restrictions I just don't know what I will do.

All my savings are in shares, which have dropped in value massively.

I could end up bankrupt over this.

That’s not true. It depends on the policy wording and insurers differ on this. A broker can review to highlight whose policies will cover this but obviously cover is already in place so it really does depend on your wording.

@EYProvider has been told differently. That industry wide insurance companies won’t pay out for closure due to Cv.

Electricity companies have been very silent on what those with a key meter are going to do should self isolation take place.

Im a full time carer so dont work but this will affect both those that work and those that dont.

We have to go work as we both work full time, as we have high rent and childcare costs. No choosing to work or making choices to work part time here.

Even if we are sick we still go as only get ssp. So we usually go in, except for occasions where we are very ill.

At present if the dc are sick we swap shifts with colleagues and end up working weekends.

If our workplaces are closed we have some savings, perhaps a month or 2 worth to cover rent and bills and then we will be putting it on credit cards (fortunately they are all fully paid off at present). But this just means that we will be paying off the credit card debt for awhile afterwards. If this extends to several months then we will really be in trouble with credit card bills to pay as well as living costs.

My concern is that people who have the symptoms will choose to carry on working as they have to for the ££. I’m not concerned about me. I’d gladly take time off work

Yes also self employed and thanks to IR35 DH is also not working at the moment. What happens when half the country can't pay their mortgages? Or eat?

@JuanSheetIsPlenty some insurers have Published updates today so it’s worth reviewing and policies. Each policy is different. Worth looking at business interruption section

This is frightening for us. My dh is self employed ( and is already seeing a sharp drop in business because of this) and I work part time, where I would get a lot less in statutory sick pay than I get paid usually. I don’t know how we’ll get through, but I appreciate that there are many people that will be in a much worse situation than us.

It’s getting really scary now 😞

I'm not in any way disputing what EYProvider has been told (I know that insurers can come up with some serious porkies) but I know a lot about insurance regulation and I am struggling to think of a way that this would actually be legal for a regulated UK insurer. They have to hold sufficient capital for seriously bad events, and realistically a nation wide closure for a period should be within the range of their poor outcomes which they consider.

I've checked our T&Cs bloody carefully - our loss of revenue cover is reduced for infectious disease closure (10% of normal so won't go far) but it specifically covers any notifiable disease. We're with MM EYProvider, not sure who you are with?

Of course they can easily try, and drag their heels for so long that firms go under anyway.