By Laura Benwell
Being self-employed during the coronavirus crisis has created a lot of uncertainty and fear for many people. While the government has promised to protect workers and businesses, offering up to 80 per cent of their wages if they’re on a payroll system, these benefits are yet to be introduced for those who work for themselves.
However Rishi Sunak is to announce financial aid for the self employed later today. The PM has said he wants to give the self employed and freelancers similar protection, but a lot of people fear it won’t be as supportive or will not come in time.
The chancellor later said creating and developing plans to help self-employed people had proved "incredibly complicated".
Around 5.2 million people in the UK are self employed. Creating a system for these people is taking much longer than those on a payroll within a company. He said there were "particular difficulties" for freelancers who are not on Pay As You Earn (PAYE) schemes.
I asked the people of Facebook, during the UK lockdown, how they’re feeling and what they're doing in the meantime before the self employed announcement occurs.
There is a major panic for self employed families trying to do what they can to protect themselves so hopefully a government plan will come through.
Currently self-employed people who lose income due to coronavirus will have to survive on benefits of less than £100 a week which when someone is providing for a family this seems impossible.
What is available at the moment?
Currently freelancers whose work has dried up because of coronavirus will only be eligible for benefits paid at the same rate as statutory sick pay (£94.25 a week).
In the UK, more than 9,500 people have tested positive for the virus - although the actual number of cases is likely to be far higher due to the lack of testing.
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