Derek Cribb, CEO of IPSE has issued a statement calling for the government to up its support for the self-employed. An extension to the current furlough scheme was confirmed as the PM announced a second national lockdown at the weekend. However, concerns have been raised that many independent workers have been left with little financial help after falling down eligibility gaps in the government support schemes. Cribb stated:
“Government must urgently fix the unfair disparity between employee and self-employed support. Right now, the self-employed can claim just 40 per cent of their earnings compared to 80 per cent for employees through the extended furlough scheme. This cannot stand as we enter a second national lockdown.”
He added, “Crucially, government must also make sure it extends the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme to all self-employed people. The gaps in support in the first lockdown – such as limited company directors and the newly self-employed – led to the biggest drop in self-employed numbers on record. Many thousands lost their freelance businesses and were driven onto Universal Credit.”
The second lockdown will see pubs, restaurants, gyms and non-essential shops close for four weeks from Thursday. However, unlike the first lockdown, schools, colleges and universities will stay open. People will only be allowed to leave their homes for specific reasons such as essential work, caring for the vulnerable, shopping for food and other essentials and exercise. Mr Johnson also banned people from mixing in homes and vetoed all travel inside or outside the UK except for work purposes.
After the 2nd of December the UK can revert to the three-tiered alert system introduced barely a week ago. However, the PM was forced to take radical action after government advisors warned that surging figures could see covid fatalities exceeding those in April at the peak of the pandemic. Despite this, business leaders have hit out at the damage a second lockdown will do to the economy.
In addition to a £2 trillion debt, thousands of redundancies are expected. Businesses must weigh up the long term viability of bringing back furloughed staff staff in the worsening economic climate. Flexible access to the independent skills needed to rebuild the economy could be seriously compromised if the self-employed sector doesn’t receive urgent support.
Contractors and the self-employed have already faced a tough year, and with the off-payroll reforms scheduled for April, Cribb has warned against the effects of these punitive measures: “We’ve seen half a million people falling out of self-employment in the last six-to-nine months. Normally in a time of economic crisis, you would see more people going into self-employment, but we’re seeing absolutely the opposite,” he said.
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