Taxi Driver Online

Self-employed could get emergency cash payments before June

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/20 ... ents-june/

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is able to send money to contractors earlier than the original target of June

The self-employed could be handed emergency cash payments sooner than first expected following the smooth launch of a taxpayer-funded furlough scheme.

Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor has vowed to support contractors with a scheme that will pay 80pc of their profits up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

Freelancers were shocked after he said this help would not arrive until the beginning of June, much later than a similar package to protect the wages of furloughed workers which will make its first payments this week.

But early signs of success on the furlough scheme mean Mr Sunak may now get help to self-employed workers quicker than first thought. A source said: “That’s the aim. The Chancellor is looking to under-promise and over-deliver on that one.”

But early signs of success on the furlough scheme mean Mr Sunak may now get help to self-employed workers quicker than first thought. A source said: “That’s the aim. The Chancellor is looking to under-promise and over-deliver on that one.”

Grants for the self-employed will be calculated using their average profit over the last three years.

HMRC and the Treasury had won much-needed breathing space after the Job Retention Scheme for furloughed workers successfully started taking applications last week.

Some 3.8 million workers have been furloughed by more than 500,000 businesses, according to HMRC’s most recent figures released on Friday.

Campaigners have warned that many self-employed workers will still slip through the cracks of the scheme despite the Chancellor’s support.



There's also this on a number of local news outlets this morning, about people who are missing out because they're newly/recently self-employed. This one's about the South West, but there seems to be near-identical articles on local news sites everywhere. What seems to have happened is that something called the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed has gotten hold of statistics about the numbers involved, and then regionalised the numbers and then put out press releases to the local press with the numbers for each area. The text of the various articles are otherwise identical, or at least very similar.


Over 9,000 self-employed workers not eligible for government coronavirus support

https://www.gazetteseries.co.uk/news/18 ... s-support/

Almost 10,000 newly self-employed people across Gloucestershire and and the wider South West will not get any funding through the Government's coronavirus support scheme, figures show.

A body which represents the country's self-employed workers says the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, which was launched in March, is still letting tens of thousands of people across the UK tumble through the gap.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced self-employed people will be able to claim a grant worth 80 percent of their average monthly profits, up to £2,500 a month, to protect them from the fallout of the pandemic.

But those who became self-employed during the last year are not eligible to apply – of whom there are around 150,000 across the country.

The Office for National Statistics analysed the number of workers in 14 city regions across the UK, as well as non-metropolitan regions.

The South West is home to 6.6 percent of the country's self-employed workers at risk of missing out on the scheme, after the West of England Combined Authority city region – which covers Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire – is excluded.

Across the region, 9,931 people became self-employed during the 2019-20 tax year.

The real figure is likely to be even higher, as those who began their solo venture between January and March 2020 have not yet been counted.

The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed said the support scheme does give generous support to millions across the country, but that more needs to be done to support the newly self-employed.

Andy Chamberlain, director of policy at IPSE, said: "Too many of the UK’s vital self-employed community are still tumbling through the gaps in the financial support package.

“The Government must do more for the 150,000 people who went freelance too recently to benefit from the scheme.

“We believe the Government should let these people file a tax return in the next month and use this to allow them to access the scheme.

“The Government has taken unprecedented steps to support certain self-employed groups, but it must go further to support all parts of this diverse and vital community through the coronavirus crisis.”

Separate data reveals Gloucestershire was home to 40,000 people who work for themselves, in the 2017-18 tax year.

They had an average salary of £23,000, compared to £30,700 for workers who aren't self-employed.

The Treasury said while 150,000 workers might not be able to access the scheme, around 95 percent of self-employed people can benefit from it.

In addition, some workers can access the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme, providing they have a business bank account, or apply for Universal Credit.

Income tax payments due in July can also be deferred until January 2021.

An HMT spokesman said: “We’re fully committed to supporting the self-employed and our Self Employment Income Support scheme is one of the most generous in the world.

“Those who do not qualify will be able to access a range of other support – including income tax deferrals, £1 billion more support for renters and access to three-month mortgage holidays."

That's basically what I suggested might happen a few weeks ago. It's basically part of the political spin cycle - portray things as a worse-case scenario then take the credit when it turns out better than expected.

No sign of an additional month's payment in line with the furlough scheme, though, but an announcement on that might also be being delayed for the same reasons as above.

In fact I'd much rather have an extra month's money than bringing forward the payment by a month or so. Both would be nicer still, and I doubt it'll be brought forward a whole month. Maybe we'll get it before the end of May rather than the early June payout that was originally stipulated.

We received our furlough payment covering from mid March until the end of April this morning.

_________________
Grandad,

Clearly the sooner the better in respect of self-employed furlough money, but as SW said four months is defo better than three.

However there is nothing stopping the gov, should they go to four or more months, to pay us out for three asap and then pay us monthly.

The hard part is getting the system up and running, and up and paying. Repeating that monthly shouldn't be that big a deal.

_________________
IDFIMH

Indeed, and I doubt it'll even be worth going out here for several weeks yet, even if the lockdown lifted relatively soon. And even when things do pick up I suspect takings will be meagre for a further few weeks - in particular, I doubt the pubs and restaurants will be open for at least another few months.

So while in a way I'd be all for having the summer off and struggling by on government grants, I fear that the longer this goes on in the short-term, the more economic carnage it will cause in the longer term, which will have a knock on effect even for drivers and cab businesses who can pick up where they left off

The night time economy is going to be grim for most, if not all, of this year.

Days will be ok all the times people need to eat, and I think will get better faster than nights will.

My point is that a case could be made that the grant should continue longer for drivers who work nights, especially those that have no option like night journeymen.

But that ain't going to happen.

I also think an increasing number of drivers wont come back to the trade in the short term, many not at all.

_________________
IDFIMH

Yes, I think some drivers won't come back, but probably replaced by an influx of new drivers, so could potentially end up with more drivers in total, at least here where it's quite easy to get a badge.