Rejected petition Give ALL self-employed same protection as PAYE workers.

Rejected on 27 March 2020

The Self-Employed – including freelancers, sole traders, those selling their services as a one-man Limited Company - have been left behind. All self-employed workers must get proportional income of 80% up to £2,500 PCM, which can be assessed using their most recent tax bill.

Give the same protection to all self-employed (including sole operators working as a limited company) as has been afforded to PAYE employees - 80% of income up to the threshold of £2,500 per month.

There are approximately 5 million Self-Employed workers in Britain. For millions of them all contracts have been terminated with immediate effect and ALL income stopped overnight. Currently the government’s protection of 80% of salary up to £2,500 per month applies only to a tiny percentage of freelancers who are also PAYE. With an entire and immediate loss of income many can no longer make ends meet. The effects on millions of self-employed will be catastrophic without urgent and immediate action.

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.

We think your petition is covered by Government or Parliament action already. If you'd like something else, you could start a new petition clearly explaining what it is.

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.