Last Friday, the UK government promised billions of pounds in support for workers - but when this announcement was made, self-employed workers seemed to slip through the cracks. Around five million of us working in the UK are self-employed. And right now, these workers are being left without equal support during the coronavirus pandemic. Schemes that help busineses keep afloat and ensure people can still receive their wages should be extended to self-employed workers as well. Right now, rumours are swirling that the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, might announce plans to help self-employed people. But the risk is that he won’t go far enough, and self-employed workers will still be left out of pocket.

In this worrying time with everyone in financial turmoil due to social distancing and isolation the exemption of having to pay council tax across the UK should be enforced to help everyone

Many people admit to not being able to respond to an accident because of a lack of first aid. Many accidents could have had better outcomes if people knew first aid so if primary schools had better education on the matter less problems would occur.

It is important that the Chapel remains in site or re-built near to the new Macmillan Unit as it is used by many people. Please support my objection to the demolition of the Chapel, and the proposed replacement prayer room.

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.

We dont want our doctors dying as they have in italy from exposure to this virus due to inadequate ppe. 13 doctors in italy have died and 2,600 health care workers are infected. WHO have said that the kit our workers have is grossly inadequate.

They are all doing an exceptional.job at a very difficult.time, they should.not need to pay to get to work or to park at work

Many British citizens are stranded in Guatemala and are being left to make their own arrangements with little to no guidance from our embassy except to go to a potentially dangerous border. Some have infants or are in other compromised situations (medication potentially running out etc.) Furthermore many tourists are scattered throughout the country and there is a curfew now in place. Mr Raab needs to organise for British nationals to have special dispensation for a period of time to travel to an international airport.

This is important because £94.00 a week universal credit is not going to cover even the most basic of needs, especially for people with families to support. Even if the promised grants materialise Anytime soon - they will merely stop a gap in the expenses that the business needs to pay. The business owner is still left without an income - and very possibly at the end of this - without a business either.

Dear Prime Minister I believe that the #CoronaVirusBill presents a real and present danger to the lives of disabled people. The government’s plans for disabled children and adults during the crisis are effectively rolling back 30 years of progress for disabled people. The government’s plans are to: remove disabled people’s rights to social care change the duties to meet children’s educational requirements to a ‘reasonable endeavours’ duty attack the civil liberties of disabled people and erode their rights to support I am asking the government to work closely with disabled people’s organisations and families of disabled people to protect their human rights in a time of crisis. I implore you to fight for the hard fought rights of disabled children, young people and adults and their families and to amend the schedules in the Bill that remove social care and SEND duties and threaten the civil liberties of disabled people. To explain my reasons for writing to you, please see my understanding of negative social implications of the #CoronaVirusBill on the lives of disabled people and their families: Yours sincerely Maxine Pieri What does it mean for disabled adults? The Bill suspends every duty in the Care Act, 2014, including the duty to meet the eligible needs of disabled people (Section 18) and their carers (Section 20). Under the #CoronaVirus Bill, Local Authorities will only have to provide care ‘if they consider it necessary’ for the purposes of avoiding a breach of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). There is no human right to social care or positive obligation under the ECHR to meet care needs. Other changes set to be introduced through the #CoronaVirusBill will allow health bodies to delay carrying out an assessment for eligibility for NHS continuing care What does it mean for disabled children and young people? Duties for young people transitioning to adult social care have also been suspended. The Secretary of State for Education will have power to disapply the duty on schools and other institutions to admit a child to a school where they are named on an EHCP. The Secretary of State will be able to vary provisions of the act, such as the core duty to procure provision set out in an EHCP, so instead of being an absolute duty it becomes a ‘reasonable endeavours’ duty, creating a lesser entitlement for up to two years. What about the Mental Health Act? The power to recommend individuals be detained under the Mental Health Act will be implemented using one doctor’s opinion instead of two, making it easier for people to be detained. The proposed bill will temporarily allow the extension or removal of time limits in mental health legislation which means individuals might be released into the community early, or find themselves detained for longer. Under section 5, emergency detention for people already in hospital would extend from 72 hours to 120 hours, and nurses’ holding powers would extend from 6 to 12 hours. Under sections 135 and 136, police powers to detain a person found in need of immediate care at a “place of safety” will extend from 24 hours to 36 hours. Under section 35/36, the cap on how long someone can be held in hospital while awaiting a report (currently 12 weeks) will be lifted. What about the rights of disabled people? Local authorities will have a duty to uphold disabled people’s human rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, BUT the threshold for a breach, in terms of not providing care and support is high, which means that disabled people will be left without care and support. Lack of care and support will have a significant impact on disabled people’s well-being, but may not be considered to reach the threshold for their human rights to have been breached – they will NOT have a right to care and support. Sources of information Watch @stevebroach, Public Law Barrister talk about the impact of the Bill here: https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/steve-broach-public-law-barrister-on-the-coronavirus-bills-implications-for-disabled-children/ Read this Twitter thread for more information: https://twitter.com/JamieBurton29/status/1240781535340568577 Statement from National User Survivor Network: https://www.nsun.org.uk/News/covid-19-and-human-rights Current hashtags: #CoronaVirusBill #CoronavirusBillUK

Most of my clients are artists and crafts people and some can claim artists or creative averaging. This means that the profits of a good year resulting from a gallery show or the sale of a book can be averaged with the profits of the preceding or following year if it would be beneficial. My petition is to try to persuade the government to extend this to all self employed people who are not receiving the benefits available to employed people in the current crisis. One of my clients is a hairdresser who works only in care homes. Since the care homes have been closed to visitors her income has disappeared. The Chancellor has deferred the July SA tax payments until January next year but they will still have to be paid. If my suggestion was introduced her profits of the current tax year (2019/20) could be averaged with those of the next tax year (2020/20) and could result in a reduction of her liabilities. I also do the accounts and tax return for a builder/decorator and general handyman. His work has dropped off because of social distancing. I have several clients but not many of them are VAT registered and the rest are below the threshold. Consequently I am more aware than most accountants of how the self employed will be affected by the current crisis. A temporary change to the rules of self assessment would, in the long term, alleviate some of their problems.

Jobs are being cancelled and deferred. Many face financial ruin. No support other than easing access to universal credit is being offered. The knock on effects will be immeasurable. The likelihood is that self employed tradespeople will be forced to ignore social distancing or starve.