Self employed, will run out of money

[Pickledbrain1]

My Dh is self employed. His work involves a lot of travel around the uk seeing clients face to face to offer his service. There is no way he can work at home! It’s not possible to offer this service from home at all. What the hell are we going to do?

We have no savings, one kid in school/childminder and two in nursery. We pay a lot in childcare fees.

Anyone have any plans in similar circumstances?

DH and I are both freelancers. I am working on a local government contract that is due for renewal 1st April. There’s plenty of work to justify a renewal but between this and IR35 I’m not convinced they will. If they do I reckon I can do half days which will tide us over if we don’t pay childcare fees. I think DHs work will pretty much dry up.

Talk to your bank they should be sympathetic to your situation sorry but bwah ha ha banks won't start lending money to working class families living week to week just because they're not working.

You need to start cutting back now this is well meant but so out of touch.
Most responsible families on low unstable incomes are already living as cheaply as possible on tight budgets, lowest possible energy tariff, buying reduced price groceries, no holidays etc.

THIS is why people are saying carry on as normal!!

There were some figures on here last night, (don't know how reliable they were) indicating that around 350 of 1000 people who had died in Italy were over the age of 80, and about another 300 were in the 70-80 bracket. I'm going to sound terribly ageist, but surely closing schools and work places isn't going to do a bloody thing to help the elderly.

I’m a self employed freelance translator. Most of my clients are Italian. I’m screwed.
They are closed. Sending no work and making no payments. I’ve not been paid this month and won’t be next month either.
I have a little work from other countries, including the U.K., but it’s all grinding to a halt.

DH is self employed and whilst he is still getting orders he can’t buy supplies so is going to have to close soon.

Our savings were spent when my mum died 6 months ago. We’re shafted.

At least I’ll be free to homeschool DS but we will be surviving on thin air.

You need to start cutting back now

Oh come on! What makes you think that most families in this position aren’t stripped to the absolute bare minimum anyway. Let’s face it, most of us we’re in a sorry state of affairs before COVID-19 hit.

This is why the ‘lockdown now!!!’ brigade are so absurd. Do they think that will be consequence free? I’m no admirer of the current government (to say the least), but isn’t it possible they’re listening to expert advice on the economic effects?

We are self employed in our small business which cannot be run from home. Things don't look good for us.

We're self employed too , in leisure and tourism
Luckily ( for us ) we have a 2 week booking in the holiday cottage , insurance paying as they’ve been flooded , that was an unexpected boost
The business rates cut announced yesterday won’t help us , we are in Wales and the Welsh Assembly as usual aren't doing anything to help , I have written to my AM , so let’s see
Trying to keep positive , but there’s not much savings left , we’ve just paid the tax bill

The problem is that the government is approaching this as all or nothing. We will still need tradesmen - we'll need plumbers, electricians etc - They're less likely to be ill if those who can WFH and take kids out of school do and not EVERYONE is spreading it around by just carrying on as normal. I would think tradesmen could actually do a lot to social distance without stopping working at all - they don't work in germ infested offices - they can quite easily limit the amount of contact with other people they have. They don't have to use public transport usually. I think we do need mortgage holidays and also holidays from nursery fees etc if kids not going in and benefit payments to those really struggling. The fact is the virus is going to decide this for us - soon a lot of people will be too ill to work if we go the way of Italy.

I’m relaxed about the health side of things but very concerned about the long term impact this will have on the economy. I’m currently on maternity leave and was planning on going back flexi (work in hospitality) but not sure they will have hours for me.

We are also self employed, cannot work from home and our business means us being present at large social gatherings. We have savings but they won't last forever, have no idea how we will manage.

There were some figures on here last night, (don't know how reliable they were) indicating that around 350 of 1000 people who had died in Italy were over the age of 80, and about another 300 were in the 70-80 bracket. I'm going to sound terribly ageist, but surely closing schools and work places isn't going to do a bloody thing to help the elderly.

It will because schools in particular are germ factories. The sudden drop in the number of cases of swine flu during the summer holidays is an example of how much effect the closure of schools can have on infection rates.

Also it's not just about protecting elderly and vulnerable people because it's almost inevitable that huge numbers will get it. It's about protecting the NHS. A sudden, large influx of patients will overwhelm the health service, this is far less likely to happen if infection rates can be slowed.

Meant to add - I agree with PP. More needs to be put in place to help the self-employed, an people on causal and zero hour contracts. Banks and mortgage companies are going to have to offer mortgage and loan holidays.

I own a nursery and won’t have any way of paying the staff if we are ordered to close.

I’m more worried about paying them than keeping a roof over my own head. I suppose I will have to lay them off, but I don’t know about the legalities of doing that, and how will I even pay them the £25 a day? My nursery doesn’t make a profit and just about brings in enough to cover the expenses. There is no money in the pot for this.

Will the staff be able to claim UC straight away? How will they otherwise live?

I’m so worried about this that I’m unable to function.

My dh and I are both self employed. We could cope with a two week isolation but more than that and we’d be fucked. Neither of us can work from home. We are both working extra hours (on top of full time hours) this month to earn more money.

Also self employed, had three people decline bookings they were previously keen on due to coronavirus last week. I work mostly with businesses of all sizes and they're all feeling the strain already :(

I have a little put by for emergencies and am working on alternative plans in case it all goes even more to shit - gutted as I've worked so hard to build my business and client base!

If your DH can't work, you can take the DC out of childcare, stop paying them and he can look after them at home. This may lead to action from the nursery if you have a contract (check this - it should cover what happens if you stop using them for any reason) but this sort of debt is very low priority and paying your essential costs like rent/mortgage, bills, food and your travel to work is higher priority. They're last in the queue and get what's left, if there is anything left.

This is why the ‘lockdown now!!!’ brigade are so absurd. Do they think that will be consequence free? I’m no admirer of the current government (to say the least), but isn’t it possible they’re listening to expert advice on the economic effects

Exactly. If millions of people can't work and have no income, a percentage of these will be tipped over the edge and some will have long standing financial effects and even commit suicide. Stopping the spread of coronavirus has to be balanced against trying to ward off a deep and long lasting recession, which is also likely to have serious health consquences.

@EYProvider what do the contracts with parents state? Around here you are having to pay if they close to keep your place, understandably although this will be crippling for some parents. Do you have any sort of governing body that can advise? It's all so stressful isn't it, and guidance appears to be limited.

I have read that a lot of mortgage lenders will be offering a two month repayment holiday , so if you have a mortgage that maybe an option that could help .

We’re in the same situation, both self employed. My work has already slowed down massively, have a few bits to finish for tomorrow and then work for Monday next week then nothing.

DH runs his own company which had already slowed down towards the end of last year I think due to the election/Brexit uncertainty. It’s just started to pick up during March but everyone wants to pay their invoices after 90 days meanwhile we’re paying wages and running costs. Had some massive tax bills in January which were on account for next years tax even though it’s looking like our profits will be tiny this year (they work tax out based on last years profits) but HMRC wouldn’t agree to lower bills or to defer or to set up a payment plan so we had to borrow on credit cards to pay them, they were totally unhelpful and rude on the phone. Apparently according to the budget yesterday HMRC are now going to work with small businesses to work out payment plans or defer tax but it’s a bit late now for us. Employ 120 people, not sure how long we can keep going, if everything closes that’ll be it will have to lay off all staff. We have to carry on as long as possible.

@Butterwhy - I’ve spoken to the DfE (they have a helpline), Ofsted and the local Early Years team. None of them were able to offer any advice about this.

I think regardless of what their contracts state, the parents won’t pay if we are unable to offer childcare. It would take months to pursue any breach of contract, so that wouldn’t be a solution in any case.

I just hope that the parents don’t turn on me when the staff complain to them that they haven’t been paid. I have read a lot of messages on here over the years from outraged parents about poor, under paid nursery workers. Unfortunately, there is only one source of income and it is the fees. If the fees don’t come in, the staff can’t get paid.

I will sell what I can to raise enough money to pay them something, but I only have so much furniture - and who will buy it in this climate anyway?