A thread for direct financial impact of Coronavirus...

[wheresmymojo]

I thought all self-employed, freelancers, people made redundant and similar who are impacted by Coronavirus could gather here to share stories, tips on managing, etc.

I expect the thread to be quiet to begin with but get busier over the coming weeks.

Anyone else already impacted (like me) or seriously worried?

I have just taken on a consultancy role in healthcare to try to supplement income anyway as self employed and also work for a charity for free...so thanks to having picked up a bit of extra and was saving it all for a new car I think I will be OK for a few months living off that and credit card. But if anything else happens or any unforeseen expenses I'll be in a pickle. It is truly stressful on all counts.

So sorry for those of you down to your last few quid and having to let your staff go.

DH is self employed but between contracts. He's been looking for work now since January and I don't think he'll get anything at the moment. There's nothing out there. Added to the difficulties he works in a different country to the one we live in.

Meanwhile the Schengen borders are about to close which means I have no access to the healthcare that I pay £700 a month for, for at lest a month. I am literally paying to watch my health go down the toilet.

We'll be fined if we leave the house without a piece of paper saying where we're going. On the plus side, the government is going to pay our utility bills 🙄

Life is peachy.

Fully expecting dh to be made redundant tomorrow. Everyone has been called in. The events industry has ground to a halt.

Crapping it.

I'm wishing that I lived in Sweden. My friend is self-employed there, at home, with no stress at all, because the government are paying minimum 70% of everyone's previous salary, and in most cases 80%. This is their normal unemployment benefit of you've been paying into the system. Because of this, he can afford an insurance that tops it up to 100%.

@Mummyshark2018 no info on the business grant yet. There is a dedicated HMRC helpline for tax help (payment planes etc) back up the thread

We are both self-employed so I am thinking there is no support at all for us. But glad they are bailing pubs out rolls eyes

Coronavirus will have a huge emotional and financial impact on the global economy. Mine and your pocket.

Why is no one fucking angry at the Chinese wet market eating anything they can fucking push pure misery on. This eating of animals has caused a global pandemic, recession, and huge hardship.Why do you need to eat snake, bat, dog, cat, cow, pig, bird, insect etc? What’s wrong with a vegetable or two,

I think we should use this time to rethink travel, consumerism, global instead of local industry.

eeehby, you're right but sadly being angry with the Chinese isn't going to help. I worry that if anything driving that kind of message could cause the ignorant amongst the population to view it in completely racist terms and take their anger out on anyone with Chinese heritage.

I'm not angry at the Chinese. I am quite suspicious as to the origins of this virus quite frankly. Even if it did originate in a wet market, it's not necessarily the case that it came from EATING bats. It could have come from bat droppings eaten by the pangolin.

Ds been made redundant from Car phone warehouse this morning. He's terrified cos it's hardly the right time for job hunting.

3/4 of our workforce is over 70 and/or has preexisting health conditions. We are in deep trouble.

Savethecat - which sector are you in to have a workforce over 70? There will be lots of people keen to take the roles.

School transport and escorts for disabled kids and young adults

Ah, so if schools are shut they won't have work anyway?

Will any on this thread benefit from the Chancellor's new financial measures?

For those that rent, do you know: are we expected to claim universal credit to cover rent costs?

@DianaT1969 at the moment, we have an email saying that schools are still going and can we send a list of who is over 70 and whether or not we can cover work. Then if schools do go off, they are out of work anyway - its lose/lose.

Yes, I believe if you rent, the only help available is UC. UC isn't backdated, so make a claim now.
There was no help in the announcement for people who won't have money for utilities and council tax.
I'm self-employed through a limited company, so might be eligible for a small amount of the £3-25k business grant. It depends on the parameters.

Has anyone heard more about how to apply for the £3k small business grant?

My husband works for a big ish multinational company. They are struggling to keep afloat across Europe. Most staff this week have had to take a 50% pay cut, and there have been a few redundancies, will be more soon.

It’s awful.

I am wondering how much would these latest measures will help us so that I can be prepared and plan a bit earlier during this uncertain time. Mine is a smallish hobby business selling handmade jewellery with 2 semi perm staff who also have similar hobby interests. Dh is in IT and is out of contract from December because of Brexit and ir35 along with this covid now. How much of zero interest loan will we be eligible? Any rough approximations welcome!

There are going to be a lot of temporary nationwide jobs being advertised soon at the big supermarkets - Aldi and Tesco, if that's a help to anyone.

There's a turn-up. After our worrying, our work still on!

Thanks @Waxonwaxoff0

I’ve just been made redundant from my job in IT and my partner is about to be laid off from his job in catering. My redundancy pay will last until the end of July but then we’ll have to start using savings. I realise that the redundancy pay buffer means that we are more fortunate than most but a supermarket job would help pay for day to day living.

I work on a central government contract- message in the last 10 minutes from the government department saying that all work is postponed with immediate effect.

Has anyone heard more about how to apply for the £3k small business grant?

You need to have business premises that either pay rates or are eligible for rate relief.