IPSE urges government to extend support for self-employed and points to “glaring injustice” compared to employees
- 21 May 2020
IPSE is urging the government to extend the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme for as long as the self-employed need it. It has warned that it would be a “glaring injustice” for it to extend the employee Job Retention Scheme but force the self-employed back to work in “unsafe conditions”.
Andy Chamberlain, Director of Policy at IPSE said: “The self-employed aren’t just a vital and major part of the workforce: they are also the hard-working entrepreneurs we will need to kickstart the economy after Coronavirus. However, most of them cannot continue their work in the midst of this deadly pandemic and they are relying on government support to get by.
“We were delighted when the government heeded our calls and set up the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, but now it must keep it open as long as the self-employed need it. It must not commit a glaring injustice by extending the employee Job Retention Scheme but pulling the rug from under the self-employed. Maintaining employee support while scrapping self-employed support also risks forcing freelancers back to work in unsafe conditions. It risks forcing them to make an awful choice between their health and their income.”
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