Does anyone else think that at the next General Election...

Dinahmo, in regard to your post @13:24 today you state that "Under lockdown there wasn't a great deal of employment around".

The above is simply not fact. When lockdown first struck all the food and drink sold through pubs, restaurants, cafes etc was immediately transferred to the supermarket chains being they were the only major retailers allowed to remain open.

Those that were employed in the above lockdown retail outlets did not require the work that was, and still is, on offer by the supermarket chains as they were on furlough with eighty percent of their salaries being paid by the government.

Therefore there has been throughout this crisis a large amount of employment on offer by large chain food retailers that often they have not been able to fill.

Obviously, to work in a large supermarket distribution centre a prospective employee requires a good degree of physical fitness, but plenty of employment has been available within the supermarkets themselves that does not require such high fitness.

Such work has included checkout operation, organising social distancing queues and collecting trollies etc.

I would state again that where there has been a will there has always been a way for self-employed persons throughout this crisis.

Many of those self employed aren't capable of doing work such as shelf stacking or driving vans for supermarkets. You may be fit and healthy but many aren't. Under lockdown there wasn't a great deal of employment around.

People who are furloughed can get up to 80% of their salary. Many of them are likely to have rental properties. They may even be receiving pensions. Should not that income reduce their furloughed income?

For the self employed the first grant payable was the lower of 80% of your profits or £7500. For the second grant the maximum is £6750. These are grants and will be taxed as part of this year's income.

I suspect that some of you think that anybody who is self employed makes large profits. Most of them don't. My own practice is unusual in that I deal mainly with artists and artisans and I can assure you that around 80% of my clients' profits are under £20,000 and they work very hard to earn those profits.

growstuff Quote [Unfortunately, the government "forgot" three million people and still won't do anything about them.] End Quote.

Many Self-employed persons who have not been able to obtain government assistance for various reasons have always been able, and still are at liberty to procure employment throughout this crisis in the supermarkets, retail food distribution centres, grocery home delivery and even food manufacturing.

The above industries have been recruiting temporary employees continuously over the last four months, with many self-employed people finding themselves such work.

It would seem that many self employed people that are at present complaining they have "fell through the net" do not want to move out of their comfort zone to find alternative employment even temporarily.

There is still plenty of work in the above sector(s) should anyone wish to simply seek it out.

Grandad1943

Dinahmo

Grandad I'm sorry but most of those 3 million who received nothing do not have complicated incomes. The only people who have complicated incomes are the rich.

The government have paid eighty percent of the wages and salaries of nine and a half million workers in Britain for more than four months in this unprecedented crisis. That is true socialism in practice.

In regard to the self-employed, many have found work in this crisis by way of working in food distribution centres, household food delivery, supermarkets and even in food manufacturing, all of which have been requiring many extra employees throughout this crisis.

Two of the drivers that have delivered our grocery orders from Tesco in recent weeks have said they were self employed, but when the Covid-19 crisis struck they immediately obtained work with the Supermarket chain.

Where there is a will there is a way.

There will always be some who don’t ‘fit’ with all the help given by government, Sunak said as much at the outset.
If you had started your own business less than a year ago for instance.
You just have to get on and do whatever you can do for the next year, until things change if there is a vaccine.Until you find a job there is unemployment benefit.Nothing is ideal, but it’s not an ideal year!

ladymuck

Well said Grandad1943, nice to hear someone showing some appreciation for the help this government are giving to those going through difficult times at the moment.
Of course, whatever they do, it will never please some folks.

Unfortunately, the government "forgot" three million people and still won't do anything about them.

It will never please those who have been completely left out, like those who were self employed for less than a year or those who were just about to start a new job.

Why should anyone be pleased about getting no help from the government when they really needed it?

Well said Grandad1943, nice to hear someone showing some appreciation for the help this government are giving to those going through difficult times at the moment.
Of course, whatever they do, it will never please some folks.

Dinahmo

Grandad I'm sorry but most of those 3 million who received nothing do not have complicated incomes. The only people who have complicated incomes are the rich.

The government have paid eighty percent of the wages and salaries of nine and a half million workers in Britain for more than four months in this unprecedented crisis. That is true socialism in practice.

In regard to the self-employed, many have found work in this crisis by way of working in food distribution centres, household food delivery, supermarkets and even in food manufacturing, all of which have been requiring many extra employees throughout this crisis.

Two of the drivers that have delivered our grocery orders from Tesco in recent weeks have said they were self employed, but when the Covid-19 crisis struck they immediately obtained work with the Supermarket chain.

Where there is a will there is a way.

Grandad I'm sorry but most of those 3 million who received nothing do not have complicated incomes. The only people who have complicated incomes are the rich.

suziewoozie

Hummm - what’s socialist about the billions given to firms based in tax havens? Many other countries limited financial help to countries registered and paying taxes in the country giving out the money.

If the above preserves jobs in Britain at this time then it is justified.

Yet more negativity.

Here’s the link
www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/billions-loaned-to-firms-based-in-tax-havens/10/07/

Hummm - what’s socialist about the billions given to firms based in tax havens? Many other countries limited financial help to countries registered and paying taxes in the country giving out the money.

How do work out that it's "socialist" three million people have been left on the scrap heap? Sorry, but I despair that it's been so easy to dupe people.

It has to be faced that this "Conservative government has carried out policies that are the most " socialist" in their application since the Labour government of 1945.

As someone who has been a continuous subscribing member of the Labour movement for fifty-five years, I never believed that such policies that has seen a British government pay the wages and salaries of millions of UK workers for now over four months would ever be carried out in this country.

It was always stated from the start of lockdown that some would fall through the net due to the complicated nature of their income. However, the vast majority of those that witnessed their employment taken away overnight have been helped to an extent those persons never could have believed would happen at the start of this crisis.

I say huge THANK YOU to all in the government and Civil Service who brought that about, no matter the colour of their politics.

A Britain to be proud of in the midst of this worldwide crisis.

Barmeyoldbat I think your reference to the self-employed not getting help refers to Universal Credit. It has always been the case the joint household income is taken into account for UC, so it's almost impossible for one of a couple to claim UC if one of them should become unemployed.

The "conditionality" for the self-employed to claim UC is very strict and complicated anyway.

This is different from claiming the Self Employed income support, which was set up specifically for the Covid-19 crisis.

maddyone

growstuff and Dinahmo
Thank you for the information, it does explain things more.

You're welcome. TBH it concerns me that you didn't realise the true situation. You're obviously intelligent and well-informed, but you weren't aware of the plight of so many. It must mean that the message hasn't been getting out into the mainstream.

Just over 200 MPs from all parties, including some who might surprise you, signed a letter to the Chancellor a couple of days ago and have formed a group called "Excluded". I wrote about it on GN, but people didn't seem to realise the significance. Martin Lewis has reported about it on TV and in the media.

It just goes to show that unless an issue is pushed by lobbyists and the main stream media, it gets overlooked.

The situation is very real. I've been reading about the £190 billion, which has been spent on various schemes and I thought I was just unlucky that I'd fallen through all of the nets. Then I realised just how many of us there are and, not only that, but billions of pounds has probably been claimed fraudulently.

My head is spinning at the incompetence, the corruption and those who really couldn't care.

growstuff and Dinahmo
Thank you for the information, it does explain things more.

I'm hoping Scotland will be out of the UK and back in the EU before then.The EU has said it will welcome Scotland but wouldn't take England back in ..if Scotland leaves England WILL be bankrupt as we have been subsidising WM for decades and more .This will shock many who believe the opposite to be true.Maybe now you've witnessed the lies that flow from WM daily you might believe what we've been saying all along.Lets face it a government who wont support a family who need an extra bedroom without charging for it is highly unlikely to support a whole country !!

Boris won't be PM in the next election, well thats what I think and we won't leave the EU without a deal. I think he will cave in on the fishing industry and except a deal that is worse that Mays. It will be a complete mess next year and I think times will be extremely hard, we will have a second wave of the virus over the winter along with a terrible exit from the EU. I really fear for this country and people losing their jobs, there will be a great deal more poverty.

Also a bit about being self employed and getting help, it would seem that you can't apply if one of you in the family is working.

It does indeed seem that the system of communication wasn't perfect. HMRC thinks there a million more people who could claim:

www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme.

biba70

And now, finally, from the London Economics

Boris Johnson “deeply regrets” going down Brexit route close sources reveal
Boris Johnson has admitted he “deeply regrets” going down the Brexit route according to sources close to the former Foreign Secretary. Matt Kelly, editor of The New European, revealed on Twitter that someone who knows Johnson very well said he now wishes he had sent the other letter. The source said: “He knows he’s fucked […]

He most certainly is and the country's going to go down with him.

Dinahmo

Several of my clients didn't receive letters or any other communication from HMRC. Or, if they did, they didn't tell me.

Were they eligible? I read that everybody would be contacted if they were eligible. I didn't receive anything, so rang HMRC anyway because I thought I could be wrong. I was told that I wasn't eligible and that I would have received an email if I had have been. HMRC is usually good at sending relevant emails, so I had no reason not to believe what I was told.

And now, finally, from the London Economics

Boris Johnson “deeply regrets” going down Brexit route close sources reveal
Boris Johnson has admitted he “deeply regrets” going down the Brexit route according to sources close to the former Foreign Secretary. Matt Kelly, editor of The New European, revealed on Twitter that someone who knows Johnson very well said he now wishes he had sent the other letter. The source said: “He knows he’s fucked […]

Several of my clients didn't receive letters or any other communication from HMRC. Or, if they did, they didn't tell me.

BTW HMRC did contact ever self-employed person who qualified.