It was a relief to see the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, however belatedly, introduce measures to protect the incomes of those in work during the coronavirus pandemic. What remains a mystery, however, is the huge disparity between the support offered to PAYE employees and the self-employed. While the former can expect the government to pay 80% of their wages, the latter – more than 5 million people – get a derisory £94 per week if they claim universal credit.
Over the past week, I’ve been speaking to self-employed people up and down the country to get an idea of how the pandemic is affecting them. Every single person I’ve spoken to had already lost 100% of their income by last Wednesday. And these are not just workers in the gig economy, such as Deliveroo drivers, they are represented across all sections of society – one was an award-winning film-maker. Very few people in this country can afford to have their income completely severed at the drop of a hat. From those who work in the arts to those who drive us home at night, every sector of society relies on self-employed people who have been hung out to dry by this government.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the self-employed have been the first to lose work and the last to get help. Max, an events photographer I spoke to, told me that he found out he had lost a job via Twitter. His client didn’t even bother to contact him. Ben, a stand-up comedian with three children, said he had lost £5,000 worth of work in two days. The small businesses that hire many of these freelancers are either too scared to spend money (and the self-employed are the easiest to let go, since they have so few rights), or they simply can’t afford to retain staff who aren’t supported by the government’s measures. One small business owner, Allison, told me she took a flight to New York and in the time between her departure and arrival, all of her income had evaporated, meaning she could no longer afford to pay anyone. “While my employees have been given help, my self-employed workers have been thrown to the wolves,” she said.
This intolerable situation is, predictably, causing a mental health crisis. Many of the people I spoke to said their anxiety was “through the roof”. Some talked of pretending everything was OK so as not to alarm their children – others were close to tears and felt their careers were over. Many workers, particularly those in the arts, tourism and events sectors, had been preparing for increased business over the summer months and had already bought stock and equipment in advance, only to find that their entire livelihoods had dried up in a matter of days. Many had also been hit by the government’s derisory offer for renters (which effectively amounts to pausing evictions for three months). Their lives were collapsing, but they were being ignored.
On Tuesday, Sunak said the delay in supporting the self-employed was for “genuine practical and principled reasons”, one of these being that some self-employed people might end up making more money as a result of the pandemic. Leaving aside the absurd idea that destitute self-employed people might prefer to remain that way in case others inadvertently do well, the truth is there aren’t any practical reasons why the government can’t start supporting the self-employed today.
A recent paper from the Autonomy thinktank sets out three possible methods of supporting self-employed people. Income could be paid directly through HMRC (remember that self-employed people submitted tax returns less than two months ago) or via a universal basic income that goes straight into bank accounts. According to the paper, almost 90% of people bank with either HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, Barclays, Santander or Nationwide Building Society. There is no reason why the government could not work directly with these banks to begin payments as soon as possible.
As Will Stronge, co-director of Autonomy, puts it: “There are existing institutions and mechanisms already in place that hold the bank details of self-employed workers across the country. The practicalities of paying these workers should not be an issue; the government needs to explain precisely what the problem is and why it isn’t acting urgently to prevent a significant chunk of the labour force from suffering hardship.”
For the sake of millions of self-employed people; our colleagues, friends, neighbours and family members, the government needs to rush through an urgent package of support today. And then, as the dust settles on the coronavirus pandemic, we need to start asking what kind of economy allows so many people to spend their lives living so close to poverty.
• Ellie Mae O’Hagan is a journalist and author
