Being self employed and the coronavirus

[cvloenen]

Morning all.

I have had nearly all my jobs cancelled now. Still got a weeks work ahead but then perhaps 1 day a week. I was wondering if anyone new what the government plans are for the self employed with regards finance?

This might be a good thread to add to as new government plans come out.

All I really know if that they are postponing the July tax payment.

I expect I'll continue to get small jobs over the next few months perhaps amounting to a day a week, perhaps emergency jobs only, who knows. Does this mean I'll still be able to get some financial help even though I still have work?

It's all a bit confusing.

I can guess any help will be means tested for self employed. They probably wont compensate self employed if you have savings or still some income. I mean, they havnt said anything much yet at all thats reassuring to some of us self employed. Yet they were quick to keep employers covered by offering to pay 80% of employess wages regardless of thier other incomes or savings. Its just typical, you can bet some of us will be paying for the gov's emergancy much more than others will be. Yes, the poorest allways pay more and this is probably no exception.
Correct me if Im wrong, but the recommendations are essessial work only I think, otherwise all stay at home. Any electrical work that is not essentially an emergancy probably should not be taking place where it would involve contact with others.

 

[Grey Master]

Having had symptoms since the middle of last week both my self and the Mrs (She has the same) have been completely isolated. All work cancelled for both of us so in effect we have no income. Apart from the the reported statutory £78 ish a week, which might not be each, we are living on savings.
The PM has just anounced only essential travel so once I'm better I can only work on emergency calls.
The future looks bleak unless we can get better scheme in place for payment there are going to be a lot of S/Es going under.

 

[802MARK]

It seems S/E is being looked at.
The issue they've got with payments is they're trying to use existing systems, so amongst other things they know they're paying to genuine people and not scammers, who will of course be out in their thousands.

The U.S plan of sending a cheque for every household for $1500 or so doesn't seem a good idea when all the Millionaires and Billionaires will also get them.

The U.S. won't be sending out checks to every man woman and child, like that, so no millionaires or billionaires will get one, but even if they did, if you were a millionaire or billionaire would you really give a hoot about 1,500.00? no it will be based on how much you make, the more you make the less you will get and all will be capped at 100k or less in earnings. so if you make 90k you might get 300.00. if you made 12k that year you might get 1,500.00 but right now the dems. are blocking all of it. but again 1,500.00 isn't that much once you pay a house note, ins. power, food, car notes, gas ect ect ect, just no where near enough to cover everything. when I lived in the u.s. my house note alone was 1850.00 per month.

 

[Colonel6271]

Having had symptoms since the middle of last week both my self and the Mrs (She has the same) have been completely isolated. All work cancelled for both of us so in effect we have no income. Apart from the the reported statutory £78 ish a week, which might not be each, we are living on savings.
The PM has just anounced only essential travel so once I'm better I can only work on emergency calls.
The future looks bleak unless we can get better scheme in place for payment there are going to be a lot of S/Es going under.

Read my previous comment which is for self employed businesses. You'll be fine dont panic.

 

[NDG Elecs]

To support self employed please consider signing the following petition.

Stay safe and healthy folks.

170,613 people signed and won this petition

Pay Self-Employed/Freelancers 80% of their median salary during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

www.change.org

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Having had symptoms since the middle of last week both my self and the Mrs (She has the same) have been completely isolated. All work cancelled for both of us so in effect we have no income. Apart from the the reported statutory £78 ish a week, which might not be each, we are living on savings.
The PM has just anounced only essential travel so once I'm better I can only work on emergency calls.
The future looks bleak unless we can get better scheme in place for payment there are going to be a lot of S/Es going under.

I disagree with the emergency calls comment you made. Boris said something along the lines of essential travel to and from work. I interpreted this as if you cannot work from home then you can travel to work. As I am self employed this is what I plan to do. I need to work to survive and this is essential to me. I have ordered marginally over priced sanitiser off Amazon and the receipts will be going through my books.

Thankfully I have empty properties I can work at. Hope you both feel much better soon..

 

[Sintra]

What Boris said was “Travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home” I don’t think you working in empty houses would fall into that category. Let’s hope that you don’t contract this disease and pass it on to others.

 

[James360]

how do i fit into this i am a self employed dosmestic appliance engineer i have stopped doing routine work and i a only responding to emergency call ie if the cooker has stopped working or a flooding washing machine i take all the precautions gloves mask wipes etc and insist the customer isnt in the same room will i be able to carry on ?

 

[davesparks]

how do i fit into this i am a self employed dosmestic appliance engineer i have stopped doing routine work and i a only responding to emergency call ie if the cooker has stopped working or a flooding washing machine i take all the precautions gloves mask wipes etc and insist the customer isnt in the same room will i be able to carry on ?

Is a broken cooker actually an emergency? Not really, it's an inconvenience.

Yes a flooding washing machine is an emergency but a homeowner should be able to isolate the water to it, if not on their own then with a little phone advice.

 

[Baddegg]

What Boris said was “Travelling to and from work, but only where

What Boris said was “Travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home” I don’t think you working in empty houses would fall into that category. Let’s hope that you don’t contract this disease and pass it on to others.

i certainly didn’t reply to this thread to get into any arguments or disagreement I assure you....but having money for medicine and food is necessary and if you are in a situation where by you don’t have to risk you health and your families then i am pleased for you and advise you to stay at home, we are not all so lucky.....the medication I need will kill me quicker than corona if I don’t get it so not much of a simple choice...

 

[NDG Elecs]

What Boris said was “Travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home” I don’t think you working in empty houses would fall into that category. Let’s hope that you don’t contract this disease and pass it on to others.

How is not working when necessary to feed myself, kids and pay bills not absolutely necessary...
Your last sentence appears to me as a little dig at my behaviour Sintra. If it is then it is such a misplaced comment. Without knowing how I have been conducting myself whilst in the presence of other members of the public in the past week or two your comment has no basis.

 

[James360]

Is a broken cooker actually an emergency? Not really, it's an inconvenience.

Yes a flooding washing machine is an emergency but a homeowner should be able to isolate the water to it, if not on their own then with a little phone advice.

you might not think its an emergency but tell that to a young family who have no way to cook food .and as for a leaking washing machine a large proportion have the isolating valve behind the machine and how many people can move a machine to isolate it

 

[Sintra]

i certainly didn’t reply to this thread to get into any arguments or disagreement I assure you....but having money for medicine and food is necessary and if you are in a situation where by you don’t have to risk you health and your families then i am pleased for you and advise you to stay at home, we are not all so lucky.....the medication I need will kill me quicker than corona if I don’t get it so not much of a simple choice...

I’m not trying to be argumentative either only trying to put a point across. As for your meds if you can’t earn to buy them then I’m sure you will be able to get them covered by the NHS.

 

[davesparks]

.the medication I need will kill me quicker than corona if I don’t get it so not much of a simple choice...

A call to your pharmacy or GP will likely get the supply of this medication sorted out without the need for you to go to work.
And I'm sure youre not so daft as to not have a sensible supply of this medication already to avoid running out.

 

[Sintra]

How is not working when necessary to feed myself, kids and pay bills not absolutely necessary...
Your last sentence appears to me as a little dig at my behaviour Sintra. If it is then it is such a misplaced comment. Without knowing how I have been conducting myself whilst in the presence of other members of the public in the past week or two your comment has no basis.

Not having a dig but the advise from the government is basically to stay at home with whoever lives with you to stop the virus spreading between households. As for the food and bills etc. that will be sorted by government money.

 

[Baddegg]

I’m not trying to be argumentative either only trying to put a point across. As for your meds if you can’t earn to buy them then I’m sure you will be able to get them covered by the NHS.

They will cover the Costs yes, last year I was out for 2 months following being hit by a car at 30 mph (pedestrian) I ran out of money for pain killers after 2 weeks and they got me sorted 6 weeks later....and that was when the government weren't fighting a national emergency!....if its all the same I’m not taking the chance nor do I have the time to wait for this particular medication.....he left he’s words open to interpretation, it’s a shame we are not all fortunate enough to interpret them equally

 

[davesparks]

you might not think its an emergency but tell that to a young family who have no way to cook food .and as for a leaking washing machine a large proportion have the isolating valve behind the machine and how many people can move a machine to isolate it

That is still not an emergency, it is inconvenient but they can eat cold meals for a little while. Why does it matter if they are young? People of any age will be inconvenienced by not having a cooker for a while.

Most people should be capable of moving a machine to isolate it, they can turn off the main stopcock whilst they work out how to move the machine.
Yes some people can't move a machine to do this, but with the probability of the fault occurring, then the probability of it occurring in a house where the occupants can't deal with it, or becomes a rarer and rarer occurrence.

 

[Sintra]

Sorry about the accident but in this national crisis it will be easier to get your meds.

he left he’s words open to interpretation, it’s a shame we are not all fortunate enough to interpret them equally

Yes his wording is a bit like our regs at the moment but the wording for this will be made crystal clear a lot quicker.

 

[HappyHippyDad]

I think we're all going to have to consider which jobs we HAVE to go out to and which we don't, but I would have thought virtually all jobs should be cancelled. All bar 1 of my jobs are now cancelled. The one job I have left is to fit a cooker for an 83 year old as she has nothing to cook on. It's difficult to work out if that really is necessary though for the next 3 weeks (minimum)? I think it is, but it's a judgement call and I'm uncomfortable with it.

 

[davesparks]

How is not working when necessary to feed myself, kids and pay bills not absolutely necessary...
Your last sentence appears to me as a little dig at my behaviour Sintra. If it is then it is such a misplaced comment. Without knowing how I have been conducting myself whilst in the presence of other members of the public in the past week or two your comment has no basis.

We've all seen this coming for weeks and put a sensible amount of food away to get through this haven't we?
Likewise we've all seen it coming and cut as much of our spending as possible to save money for the event.