Rishi Sunak speech....

[unhappyclap]

What are people thinking so far?

I was very impressed by the chancellor's speech, and the measures that he is putting in place. 80% salary should be enough for retained employees to survive on, as they will have no travel expenses and won't be out socialising so much. For some people, they might start to look on their temporary lay off as an enforced holiday, rather than feeling under pressure to look for other jobs.

@LouQoo The staff salary grants are being backdated to 1st March. If your company chooses to, they can hire you back and claim the grant.

This decision is in the companies hands though, as the government cannot really mandate that they have to.

Future leader for sure

Thats what I was thinking.

@BovaryX
I’m afraid I did not understand your response. I am living and working legally in the UK. I have been for over 4 years. I pay taxes to the UK government from my salary just like everyone else. Are you saying I should not be entitled to 80% of my wages even though I am a permanent resident, and not yet a citizen?

And I absolutely feel for the self employed people. I do not understand the logic behind it.

Some people wouldn’t be happy if he walked on water or turned it into wine

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.

They've actually been quite clever. Self-employed people who still receive tax credits will now have to apply for UC. Once the crisis is over they will have manged to get quite a number of people on to UC who would probably have been better off of the old tax credits.

DP is self employed, and I think this is reasonable. Very reasonable tbh
Yes, it’s shit for the self employed , but this is a global pandemic, and quite frankly, we’re all lucky to be alive, so many people won’t be at the end of this
Boris didn’t give the world Coronavirus, and he’s doing the very best he can. I’m sorry that people are having to take pay cuts, but we very very lucky to be in this position.
I’m sure during the bubonic plague, they would have lived to have a government offering them the protections we have

Landlords demanding full rent as usual can whistle. They won't be able to evict you and they can't take what you haven't got. Similarly credit card companies, loan companies, anyone a self employed person owes money to - they are all going to have to sit the fuck down and accept that they can't have their money till this is all over.

That's how this is going to have to work. I get that there's a disparity but it can be sorted.

What precisely do you expect the government to do? They have cranked up the printing press and are firehosing billions

This. I am a long way from being a fan of this government and I thought Sunak was a lightweight. I am prepared to give him and them the benefit of the doubt on this.

And I absolutely feel for the self employed people. I do not understand the logic behind it

Self-employed people & freelancers are in the exact same position they would be if they were struck down with an illness and couldn’t work. What was the plan for that? Claim benefits? Bingo.

It’s not designed to. It’s to feed you and pay basic bills.

Exactly, there's nothing to help my business and not enough to help me, or people like me.

They've actually been quite clever. Self-employed people who still receive tax credits will now have to apply for UC. Once the crisis is over they will have manged to get quite a number of people on to UC who would probably have been better off of the old tax credits

I think that saving will be a drop in the ocean compared to what they’re offering.

It’s like people are determined to see how the ‘nasty party’ are profiting from this. Somehow I don’t think they will be....

Landlords demanding full rent as usual can whistle. They won't be able to evict you and they can't take what you haven't got. Similarly credit card companies, loan companies, anyone a self employed person owes money to - they are all going to have to sit the fuck down and accept that they can't have their money till this is all over

Exactly.

TabbyStar I get that, but what was your plan if you’d had a car accident, gotten pneumonia of had your house burned down?

@LoudBatPerson thank you for your response. I’m not actually on a zero hours contract, I have a set amount of hours I work every week, I am just thinking if they reduce my hours or ask me to take unpaid leave as it’s so quiet would I qualify for this? I’m very worried about job security as it is a small business I work for. I hope at least if they can’t afford to keep me on they may be eligible for this until everything settles down and business picks back up ( tho I know this may be many months)

Being able to keep everyone fed, with a roof over their heads and (hopefully) a job to return to in a few months is a major achievement for any government. And people are still moaning

Not so much moaning, as terrified, @Forza14

(Not Johnson-bashing, either: I like him and think he's doing a good job generally. Likewise Sunak. I'm talking specifically about the effect on my business and children).

I was very, very impressed.

I’ve never voted Tory, and neither trust nor have any faith in Boris.

Rishi has my total respect for this.

What about those who are still in work but are facing their employer banning overtime, deferring/cancelling expected bonuses etc. These payments can be the difference between being able to afford to pay their bills or not, all the while facing an increase in household bills and food costs due to home schooling and self isolation.

Not to mention the self employed not being considered equal to those on PAYE. I would have liked to have seen the Universal Basic Wage that’s been talked about in the last few days.

@Emmmie

You wrote that you are A) not a citizen B) not entitled to Benefits. Why do think you should be eligible for 80 percent of wages?

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

Surely people know thy being SE is less secure than being an employee when they decided to be self employed? I say this as someone whose DP is SE.
How much are people expecting? Like, genuinely?

A worker you can go of their wages, but what are you supposed to pay a SE person?Quite frankly, seeing how people are behaving I wouldn’t trust anyone to be honest about what they earn, I can imagine people who work 2 days a week pretending they had a big £1m contract coming up requiring them to work 24/7.

Jesus our economy will be totally fucked once this is all over - a global recession like we've never seen before. Think austerity was bad - I suspect we ain't seen nothing yet.

That said, impressed with Rishi. Very statesmanlike. And I'm a die-hard socialist!

agree terrible for self employed.
£20 a week extra for tax credits or UC
and is that INCLUDING bringing the housing benefit cap to cover 30% of the local stock.

for the employed its really positive. some people might even be better off if they lose their transport costs as are at home

I stand by my assessment that what is being offered is extremely generous, and as I said my DH is self employed. But I do apologise for the tone of some of what I said. I shouldn’t have told people to grow up. It’s a time of huge stress for a lot of people (including my own family) and it’s just not helpful to add to it by slinging insults around. Stay safe.

Jesus they're pumping billions into the economy in moves that have never ever been done before to literally keep people's heads above water. I'd love to see some of the naysayers PP on here come up with anything better?

You know what's extraordinary? Some posters seem to have no concept that this global pandemic has already shut down entire industries across the planet. How many countries are paying 80 percent of their citizens' wages?