Rejected petition Offer equal income support to the self-employed during the COVID-19 outbreak

Support the self-employed by setting up a simple system where they can apply for significant income support regardless of any savings or partner's income. This is not taken into consideration for supporting the employed through this crisis so why should it be for the self-employed?

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The Government has stated they will support those in employment by covering 80% of wages yet have left the self-employed to apply for support through the complicated universal credit system where the most they can get is around £5,000pa. It is also unclear who is able to claim when savings and partner's income are taken into account. There are 5 million self-employed people in the UK, making up 15% of the labour force. It is only right to treat this extrememly valuable sector equally.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

We can't publish petitions when the request is something that's already happening or something that has been announced since you started your petition.

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Since this petition was started, the Government has said that most self-employed people can claim a taxable grant worth 80% of their trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months.

You can find out who is eligible and how to apply here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme

You can read the Government’s announcement here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-gives-support-to-millions-of-self-employed-individuals

You can find out what other Government support is available for people as a result of coronavirus (under the section on employment and financial support) here: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 21 March 2020
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