A week on and freelancers are still crying out for help

Millions of freelancers and self-employed are still waiting for financial support from the government.

Prospect and Bectu members across the economy have lost all their income and unless they get assistance immediately will be unable to pay their bills.

As a union representing tens of thousands of freelance and self-employed members hit hard by the government’s failure to act, we are calling for a scheme which protects 80% of workers pre-crisis income.

Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, said:

“It’s now a week since Rishi Sunak announced that the government would do ‘whatever it takes’ to get us through this crisis. For freelancers and the self-employed however it’s still more a case of ‘whatever we can get away with’.

“We still have no form of income protection for freelancers and warm words on rent protection have morphed into ‘you can wait an extra month or so until you get evicted’.

“Millions of freelancers are crying out for help. They need it today so they can pay their bills at the end of the week. If they can’t the whole economy suffers.

“Unions are experts on how to support workers of all kinds. It’s time the government got around the virtual table with us so we can work out a fair and workable solution to this crisis.”

Notes

• Prospect is calling for the government to use the tax data from previous tax returns to build a picture of an average total verifiable income across different streams for each worker who claims. This must be mindful of the different methods in which self-employed workers earn income. The government would then pay grant payments covering 80% of this income (based on an average of the last year or the last 3 years, whichever is higher) with a cap of £3000 per month.
• Over 4,500 Prospect members have contacted their MP in the last 24 hours showing the strength of feeling of our members.