Support for Self-employed and Freelance Workers

Ben Lake Excerpts

Thursday 17th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion) (PC)]

I join others in congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) on securing the debate this afternoon and on drawing attention not only to the pivotal role of self-employed people across the UK but to the need for further Government support for them in this time of crisis. This is particularly the case in Wales, where self-employed rates in rural areas such as Ceredigion are far above the UK and Welsh averages. In the previous debate, my right hon. Friend the Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts) rightly noted the need for sector-specific extensions to the furlough scheme, and I would argue that a similar targeted approach is urgently required to support self-employed and freelance workers, especially those working in the creative, tourism and hospitality sectors, and also in the events sector, which in Ceredigion has been particularly hit this summer, with the cancellation of dozens of local agricultural shows, carnivals, weddings and eisteddfodau.

In the brief amount of time I have available to me this afternoon, I want to echo others in urging the Government to look again at helping the individuals and businesses who have been unable to access any support thus far. I welcome the UK Government’s self-employed income support scheme, but, as has already been noted, almost 3 million self-employed workers were excluded from it, many of whom live in Ceredigion and work in a range of sectors and different circumstances. Composers and architects, newly employed workers and small business owners have all been excluded from support after falling foul of the scheme’s criteria, perhaps by submitting PAYE details a few weeks after the cut-off date or because they have earned too much in previous years.

Another hurdle that needs to be addressed, which has punished far too many, is the requirement to prove that at least 50% of an individual’s income comes from self-employment. That criterion especially disadvantages freelancers in the arts and creative sector, who draw their income from a range of sources. Just as devastating was the exclusion from both the coronavirus job retention scheme and the self-employed income support scheme of newly self-employed workers and those limited company directors who are paid through PAYE on an annual basis.

I am talking here about individuals and businesses who have seen their income completely disappear in recent months and who have little prospect of any work for months to come, and I therefore urge the Government to take action to address these issues, to extend the support to prevent a jobs crisis over the winter, and to look again at the rules so as to help those who have thus far been excluded through no fault of their own to get some support.