Written Evidence – Economic Impact of Coronavirus

Written Evidence – Economic impact of coronavirus Batch 5 – 24 April 2020 Richard Hill I suffer with ptsd and was found fit for work, I started this business both as part of my therapy but also as a more sustainable employment molded around my therapy and skills. My company was fully booked for small events over the next 3 months with car boot sales and festival season about to begin. As stated I started this with personal loans under the New Enterprise Allowance scheme that now I'll be unable to meet and with the postponement of my driving test any refinancing has been made unviable, how do you propose that my business survives to meet its obligations to rebuild the events and leisure industry having been hampered by the measures brought in to force for the coronavirus. As it stands from a projected £40000 turnover I'll be -£15000 as the season will be lost. The longer impact is decimating the events, tv and filming our secondary opperation shut down totally removing the liquidity from an otherwise strong business. Any help in figuring out this situation appreciated. Elise Menghini I am writing in response to your call for evidence on the Government's financial response to the corona virus. The Government's offer to the self-employed is an insult to millions of hard-working people who contribute so much to society. I am calling on you to give the same protection to the self-employed (including sole operators working as a limited company) as have been afforded to PAYE employees. There are approximately 5 million Self-Employed workers in Britain. For many of us, all contracts have been terminated with immediate effect and ALL income stopped overnight. Currently the government’s protection of 80% of salary up to £2,500 per month applies only to a tiny percentage of freelancers who are also PAYE. This has to be the absolute minimum and for most will be a huge drop in salary in and of itself. This can be assessed through recent tax returns. The offer of £94.25 a week to the self-employed (through universal credit) is a drastic drop in income and would put millions of individuals and families in great debt. The effects will be catastrophic without urgent and immediate action. As a self employed TV Production Buyer, I have paid national insurance for decades. But I have never been eligible for sick pay. I have never been eligible for unemployment benefit between jobs - because I am classed as 'unavailable for work'. Many freelance TV workers have already experienced a loss of earnings over January and February, due to the commissioning calendar for television series - the new raft of commissions usually translates into productions taking on staff in March. I finished my last project in November 2019 and was just about to start on a new 3 month contract beginning 23 March 2020. The money I earn from my last job has paid my living expenses for the last 5 months and that is now replete. If the government leaves this tranche of workers unprotected, the stress and anxiety people will suffer as a result will become a mental health time bomb. Anonymous I was most troubled on the evening of Friday 20 March when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, announced a continuing government-funded wage for people on a PAYE payroll, but pledged absolutely no help for the many self-employed taxpayers of this country. In January 2020, after my first year of freelance work following two BA degrees (French and Russian at the University of Oxford, then Acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), I paid almost £15000 in tax and national insurance, and almost £4000 as a pre-payment to HMRC for the next tax year. I am appalled that I, having paid such sum of money to contribute to the society I live in, am now in a position where I am set to receive no support at a time of an unprecedented global pandemic. Mr Sunak’s proposed alternative for all self-employed people in my position is to receive Universal Credit, which in itself is a long and arduous process (I speak from experience having tried to apply last night) and in no way compensates for the thousands of pounds I will be unable to make in the coming months, to pay for the second early instalment of tax I am due to make in July 2020, again for just under £4000. What appals me the most is that I am in the best possible position of most self-employed people, having earned enough to tide myself over during this time of economic uncertainty and the inevitable global economic depression that will surely follow the COVID-19 crisis. Many of my fellow graduates depend on the nannying, the tutoring, the PA jobs that are counted under their self- employed status to pay their rent, their bills, pay for food and activities that contribute to their overall well-being. Even in isolation, not a single self-employed person will be able to survive on less than £100 per week, especially as many self-employed workers are renting properties and will have the backlash of the so-called “rent freeze” to catch up on in 3 months’ time. I have been stunned, moved, and invigorated by the way our community has rallied together at this time, and by the dedication of neighbourhood groups to ensure that the most vulnerable in our community have food, medication and the knowledge that help is just a phone call away during the ever more stringent measures the government is having to take in order to tackle the spread of COVID-19. In the neighbourhood group I am part of, a large portion of the people who have rallied most wholeheartedly are themselves self-employed, but I am worried that a whole stratum of society, the self-employed — people who are ingenious lateral thinkers with an ability to adapt and change in an instant — are being penalised through Mr Sunak’s narrow-minded and logico-deductive point of view about who is valuable in UK’s workforce. Treasury Committee, I urge you to ensure all self-employed people receive compensation for the nation-wide freeze on work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. I urge you to ensure this compensation is calculated and graded based on the most recent tax return filed by sole traders in the same way Mr Sunak’s PAYE payroll scheme is, to ensure all self-employed hard workers in this country are able to keep up with their monthly costs, so that their business is able to resume as normal once we have moved through the COVID-19 pandemic, which may last up to 18 months, and will have ramifications on the global economy for the coming decade. Jenny Koehring I am writing in response to your call for evidence regarding the impact of the current Covid19 situation on freelance workers, in particular relation to the financial provisions outlined last week for self-employed people. I am a registered sign language interpreter and registered with HMRC as a sole trader. I am also currently studying for my PhD. I only earn an average of 20.000-25.000 pounds a year and I am self- funding my further education, as well as having to provide for a family in rented accommodation. My income has reduced drastically due to agencies and organisations no longer booking interpreters for fear of risks. This is a very real and immediate threat to my livelihood and that of my family. I may also be unable to continue with my studies. To provide employees 80% of earnings if out of work and offer sole-traders £95 per week is incredibly discriminatory to a workforce providing vital services to deaf people and service providers so they can communicate and make informed decisions in all life situations, including medical and legal settings. How do you envisage sole-traders continue to pay for their mortgages, taxes, bills and other living costs? Not only do interpreters and translators pay tax, which you can track through the HMRC and UTRs, but they have to pay registration fees, professional fees, pay for training throughout the year to maintain registration, pay for insurance – all before they factor in their general outgoings to live and travel to work to enable other people to go to work or attend appointments. If online interpreting is provided through a Video Relay Service (VRS), the interpreters still have to factor in costs of equipment and have a suitable broadband connection, environment to work in and appropriate platform to provide interpreting – this is not suited to everyone and we recommend a minimum of three years’ post-qualification experience before interpreters can start to provide such a service. Other requirements related to working such as owning a car, which is vital, mobile phones, appropriate clothing for the different environments and so on all incur costs to the interpreters and translators. As you will appreciate becoming and working as an interpreter or translator is expensive in terms of training and ongoing requirements. I have accrued over 60.000 pounds in student finance liabilities. This means that we rely on regular work and plan time off carefully. The emergence of Covid19 has meant that the work currently available is incredibly limited - the most experienced interpreters may be able to work for Video Relay Services but everyone else is restricted to the very small amount of work available. Some work may be conducted online directly with deaf people rather than through companies but there is minimal work available and dependent on the individual’s circumstances.

Load more