Rishi Sunak speech....

[unhappyclap]

What are people thinking so far?

It's just the massive difference in help between the PAYE and Self Employed why not 50% of salary to PAYE and the weekly minimum wage to the self employed. Surely if £500 is better than nothing for the self employed then 50% of your salary if your PAYE is acceptable to.

Most self employed people weren't just relying on benefits if they got sick. My dad has insurance coverage for if he's sick and unable to work. But he's neither of those
It doesn't cover him for a pandemic

So why can’t your Dad just claim UC? That with a mortgage holiday will keep most people fed and housed. There will almost certainly be council tax holidays too (a big saving for all Londoners) and there will also be ban on utilities being disconnected.

It’s crap that your Dad’s income has taken a battering, but people are going to fucking die if we don’t take this action.

Jesus wept.

It was a much better announcement than it could have been. However I'm shocked at those that are self-employed not getting more help.

We live in extreme times. God knows how we will ever pay all this back. Remember when all we ever heard was paying back the deficit? However we need to save lives and keep people eating and with homes over their heads

@Emmmie
I am increasingly puzzled by your question. Surely you understand that the 80 percent wage payment is a benefit? If you are not eligible for benefits, nor a citizen, why would you qualify for it?

I am a permanent resident here, but not (yet) a citizen or a person with Indefinite Leave to Remain. I am on a spouse visa and such I am not entitled to any benefits at all

A poster on here keeps saying the self-employed were expecting nothing an hour ago.
We weren't expecting nothing. why do you think that?? We're people too who have rents and bills and have paid into the system. We were expecting a universal minimum wage for 3 months at least.

@HolidayLetter so you have money invested. Have you done an online calculator to see if you'd be entitled to anything?

As a SE person, universal credit wouldn't even cover my business costs, accountancy, subscriptions, insurance, ICT costs, software etc
It’s not designed to. It’s to feed you and pay basic bills.

As a SE person it's the disparity that sticks in my craw. We're going to struggle far more than the employed, and some of us (inc. myself) won't be entitled to anything (especially as UC so charmingly forces some of us to live off our partners if their earnings mean we don't qualify).

To be fair I think the govt is handling other aspects of this crisis quite well (and this is coming from someone who's emphatically not a Tory supporter), but to me telling the SE to claim a benefit they may not even be entitled to just says that to the govt we self-employed people are small potatoes and our contributions to the economy don't matter.

They’re just following what every other country did two weeks ago. Though I accept that getting mophead off the screen is a massive relief. Anyway, baby step by baby step this government is actually starting to GOVERN! Put the bloody flags out. Next step, sort out the testing so that the holy mantra “Timing is everything” actually has some meaning because you actually have a friggin clue how many people have the virus.

We were expecting a universal minimum wage for 3 months at least

Why? What reason did you have to expect that? Apart from wishful thinking?

@Forza14 What has he done to deserve so much less than those who are employed?

You're implying that he should just be happy with £400 a month (which won't cover his bills and food) whilst those who're employed get £1600 more?! Everyone is sitting at home doing nothing.
Why do they deserve that much more?

People dying is absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Rishi Sunak has just shafted the entire SE sector.

*Some of you need to grow up

I hope you are not directing that at me, @Iveneverwonanoscar

If so, it's very distressing that you would say that to someone who is desperate. Please give people a break who aren't covered by this (generous) governmental aid.*

@HolidayLetter
No, it wasn't directed at you and wasn't even me who originally wrote it, i had simply copied from a couple of posts that i overall agreed with, but somehow putting it in bold didn't work.

My own words were the last paragraph where i actually said they may change their stance on self employed over the next few days/weeks / however much time just as they've altered other things as situations have developed.
I am also self employed and although my earnings will significantly decrease, i am still able to earn a bit. So I truly sympathise but choose to hope that perhaps today's statement won't be the final word.
I appreciate you are upset but please don't attack if you haven't read something properly, and you are far from the only one suffering.

We were expecting a universal minimum wage for 3 months at least

Why? What reason did you have to expect that? Apart from wishful thinking?

Fairness?

i honestly don't believe that anyone has been 'shafted'

The govt is trying to do its best in unprecedented circumstances and trying to sort a massive of problems in a very short space of time. Hopefully the self-employed will get some more support but they can't do everything all at once.

Ok, I'm on page 1 of comments, I see there's 11 but I'm seriously frustrated at the negativity. I hand on heart believe they are doing all they can to support people in this incredibly shitty time. It won't be everything to everyone and were all going to struggle, but with today's measures well not drown.

@AlecTrevelyan006 Today the SE have been shafted.
They really have.

What else can you call offering employees 80% of £2500 a month and the SE £400 a month?

@AmIAWeed Are you taking the piss? We will not drown?

£400 a month for those that are SE. Today's measures are extremely like to push the SE into poverty; only the SE though.

Most income protection and business interruption policies will not cover a pandemic. Most sole traders will have some reserves of cash but no where near what is required to weather this shit storm. Remember they have running costs as well as living costs.

We will drown though,

DP self employed and not a high earner. Me zero hour contract and getting maybe 4 hours work a week at present. No savings, 2 teens to feed and a mortgage to pay.

I'm not even sure if we can get universal credit when we are paying back a tax credit overpayment, does anyone know how this works?

won't any SE benefit from deferred tax &/or VAT payments?

@Forza14 my husband Is self employed and has paid for work interruption insurance for 20 years. He cannot claim on this because it is not an illness. He has paid a lot of money to be covered if he gets ill, there is nothing else he could have done to be prepared for this and why should we be treated differently than employed people. I am a partner in a roofing company. We have struggled to keep going in a difficult economy while paying decent secure wages to our guys for a long time now. The workmen take home more than us every week and now they will have their wages paid while we get nothing most likely. So maybe you could just get ifff your high horse and realise that self employed people have really been screwed over

You still need to pay it in a years times so you will have that hanging over you.

I am increasingly puzzled by your question. Surely you understand that the 80 percent wage payment is a benefit? If you are not eligible for benefits, nor a citizen, why would you qualify for it?

It isn't a benefit, it is a grant that the company can apply for rather than let staff go. The only thing that will matter is the employment status not nationality. It is not down to the individual to apply for this.

@alsohuman - are you for real?

I expected something because it was announced yesterday that they would roll out a package to support everyone and keep the economy going. If most of the 5 million self employed people are broke, evicted, in debt and and with no business in 12 months time then how is that keeping the economy going? I'm not sure you understand who self-employed people are. Your Uber driver who needs to keep paying his car lease, tax and insurance payments, your hairdresser who might live in London and be stuck in a rental contract of £1200 per month because last month she could afford that by working. Your child's tutor and supply cover teachers who will (hopefully) be stacking shelves in Sainsbury's at the end of this, instead of teaching your PFB. Graphic designers who are freelance because the sector doesn't want to employ people, gardeners, tradespeople who fix things in your home.... So many more...
A difference between self-employed and PAYE? Self-employed often invest in their business - tools, storage, stock, vehicles, websites, software, insurance. You have no idea and I don't think you are fit to comment on any employment issues.

@BovaryX
Because I won’t be applying for the grant myself! My employer is going to be applying on behalf of all her employees.

Not everyone who is SE earns very little though. I know plenty of high earning SE people (barristers, Project managers, engineers, etc) who max their pensions, deductions etc to get under the threshold to claim the 30 free hours. They are all very annoyed about the changes to IR35 but when it comes to tax some of them have had very good for years.