SUPPORT FOR SELF-EMPLOYED WORKERS

It is disappointing that it has taken this long for the UK government to announce measures for millions of self-employed people across the UK, and it is extremely concerning that the people with bills to pay and families to feed will have to wait until June for the support they need now.

The Prime Minister pledged parity between the self-employed and employees at PMQs – that rhetoric has failed to have been matched by the UK government’s measures.

The UK Government should introduce an emergency Universal Basic Income to protect people’s incomes in the face of the pandemic.

Measures being taken:
• Self-employed people will be able to apply for a grant worth 80% of their average monthly profits over the last three years, up to £2,500 a month.

• The scheme will be open to those with a trading profit of less than £50,000 in 2018-19 or an average trading profit of less than £50,000 from 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.

• To qualify, more than half of their income in these periods must come from self-employment.