I was interviewed on the BBC 6 O’clock news to talk about the lack of provision by government for the self employed. Obviously it was a short segment and as well as the points that made the edit I also raised the need for a rent freeze to match the supposed mortgage freeze, a deferment of the looming HMRC tax deadline and a drastic simplification of the Universal Credit application process.
Since then the government have announced deferring the tax deadline and also provided PAYE employees of companies 80% of their wages.
This at time of writing leaves self employed people able to claim up to £94/week in Universal Credit. This disparity is huge and should not exist. Self employed people need the same support as employees (and these provisions do not go far enough either).