COVID-19: Government responds to open letter for Temporary Income Protection Fund for the UK’s self-employed

We signed an open letter to the UK Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, calling on him to rethink the emergency bailout plan regarding COVID-19, so that freelancers and self-employed workers get a fairer deal.

Design Council is delighted that the government has responded positively to the urgent calls for action to protect the incomes of the self-employed through this critical period. So many people across the design sectors are self-employed, many with families to support, and have seen their incomes disappear overnight. This major boost should be warmly welcomed, and we also urge those who will be waiting some weeks for the support to arrive to explore the other avenues available in the short-term, including business continuity loans and through Universal Credit.

Sarah Weir, Chief Executive

The open letter written by The Creative Industries Federation read:

We are writing to you as a collective group of organisations representing the UK’s five million self-employed and freelance workers, regarding the support available to them during the coronavirus crisis.

In recent days, our members and the wider self-employed community across the country have contacted us in huge numbers about their work and projects being delayed or cancelled altogether. From the construction sector to our world-leading creative industries, where freelance talent including designers, writers and developers is abundant, it is evident that many self-employed people are already feeling the impact. We have also heard concern from those self-employed professionals whose work involves entering homes and premises, such as cleaners, carers and tradespeople, that they face a choice between losing their income and risking the health of themselves and others.

We understand the government is due to announce a further employment support package in the coming days. We are calling on the government to implement a Temporary Income Protection Fund specifically for the self-employed as part of this package.

This should be time-limited and carefully targeted to ensure support goes to those self-employed people who need it most. Although this will require a large financial commitment, we believe this is the right approach. In recent days, other countries have taken such steps. In Norway, for instance, the government has committed to pay the self-employed 80 per cent of their average income over the past three years.

We are grateful for the package of measures that have been announced in recent days, however we are concerned these will not be sufficient to meet the scale or pace of the problem. Universal Credit and Employment Support Allowance are both less generous than Statutory Sick Pay, which the self-employed cannot access, and difficult to navigate – they are not well-suited to deliver rapid financial support. Similarly, the government’s bold set of business support measures will undoubtedly help many small and large firms but they are not well-tailored to the self-employed, who need fast cash flow support and not long-term debt liabilities.

As you have recently stated, this is not just a health crisis but an economic crisis. The income of freelancers up and down the country is at immediate risk, threatening their ability to keep their businesses alive and cover basic living costs like rent, bills and food.

We wish to help in any way we can to inform government policy making in these extremely challenging circumstances and would welcome the opportunity to discuss this proposal with you at the earliest opportunity. 

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Norbury

Chief Executive

Creative Industries Federation and Creative England

 

Supported by:

• Association of British Orchestras
• Association of Independent Music
• Association of Photographers
• Audio UK
• BECTU
• British Arts Festivals Association
• British Association of Picture Libraries & Agencies
• British Beauty Council 
• British Fashion Council
• Bristol Media
• Crafts Council
• Creative United
• Culture Counts
• Design Council
• Directors UK
• Equity
• Featured Artists Coalition
• Federation of Scottish Theatres
• Guild HE
• Guild of Media Arts
• Incorporated Society of Musicians
• Independent Cinema Office
• Music Education Council
• Musicians Union
• One Dance UK
• Professional Publishers Association
• ScreenSkills
• Society of British Theatre Designers
• SOLT/UK Theatre
• Tech London Advocates & Global Tech Advocates
• UK Music
• UK Screen Alliance
• Ukie
• York UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts