Britainâs 5 million self-employed face a looming tax hike, after chancellor Rishi Sunak agreed to bail them out during the coronavirus economic shutdown. Sunak on Thursday 26 March announced that Britainâs self-employed would be eligible for up to ÂŁ2,500-a-month in state grants for the next three months. The support package comes amid a government-ordered economic shutdown and is estimated to be worth around ÂŁ9bn (ÂŁ11bn), according to the Financial Times. The scheme will help everyone from gigging musicians and Uber drivers to consultants and lawyers. However, Sunak hinted that the grants would be part of a trade off and the self-employed will likely face higher tax rates after the coronavirus crisis abates.
Coronavirus exposes UK food supply to âcrisis of hungerâ
The closure of restaurants and cafes, the surge in panic buying, and a reduction in emergency food provision during the coronavirus crisis threatens to quickly spiral into a âcrisis of hungerâ unless the government acts immediately, a leading think tank has said. The UK government said this week that 1.5 million vulnerable people will be given food parcels during the crisis as part of a local council scheme being run in collaboration with supermarkets and the armed forces. But the Food Foundation warned on Friday that, because the pandemic has exposed the âextraordinary fragility of the food system,â millions more will need food aid in the coming days. Rising food prices and supply chain shocks will compound the issues arising from the fact that many people have seen a drop in income and have become âmuch more limitedâ in how they obtain food.
Northern Ireland food workers refuse to start shift over coronavirus concerns
Around 60 workers have refused to start their shifts at a Northern Ireland food processing plant, citing concerns about how the company is handling the coronavirus pandemic, according to trade union Unite. Employees at a Linden Foods plant in Dungannon, County Tyrone, say that social distancing measures have not been implemented at the facility, and that those exhibiting coronavirus symptoms have still been allowed to work. âThere have been ongoing issues between management and workers at Linden Foods in Dungannon over the issue of the absence of social distancing for workers on the boning line, in the canteen, changing areas and at entry and exit points,â said Unite regional officer Brian Hewitt on Friday.
Britainâs 5 million self-employed face a looming tax hike, after chancellor Rishi Sunak agreed to bail them out during the coronavirus economic shutdown. Sunak on Thursday 26 March announced that Britainâs self-employed would be eligible for up to ÂŁ2,500-a-month in state grants for the next three months. The support package comes amid a government-ordered economic shutdown and is estimated to be worth around ÂŁ9bn (ÂŁ11bn), according to the Financial Times. The scheme will help everyone from gigging musicians and Uber drivers to consultants and lawyers. However, Sunak hinted that the grants would be part of a trade off and the self-employed will likely face higher tax rates after the coronavirus crisis abates.
Britainâs 5 million self-employed face a looming tax hike, after chancellor Rishi Sunak agreed to bail them out during the coronavirus economic shutdown. Sunak on Thursday 26 March announced that Britainâs self-employed would be eligible for up to ÂŁ2,500-a-month in state grants for the next three months. The support package comes amid a government-ordered economic shutdown and is estimated to be worth around ÂŁ9bn (ÂŁ11bn), according to the Financial Times. The scheme will help everyone from gigging musicians and Uber drivers to consultants and lawyers. However, Sunak hinted that the grants would be part of a trade off and the self-employed will likely face higher tax rates after the coronavirus crisis abates.
I appreciate his honestly and lack of stealth and good accountancy.
You might appreciate him less if you were one of the many that will not qualify for any assistance, yet still be affected by the tax increases that will follow, in order to repay the money. It will be a bit like me getting a bank loan, and expecting you to help with repaying it.
Police acknowledge confusion over UK lockdown rules
A police chief has admitted there is confusion around the governmentâs lockdown rules, even as forces vow to deter people from visiting beauty spots and beaches this weekend. Police said the Lake District was closed, and officers across Britain were patrolling to stop gatherings of more than two people. One police chief in south-west England admitted to the Guardian that his force had made mistakes in setting up a road block, as constabularies across the UK attempted to convince people to stay at home with sunshine forecast for the first weekend of the lockdown.
Coronavirus: Government rejected advice on NHS protective equipment three years before epidemic Labour says 2017 decision â made when Jeremy Hunt was health secretary â leaves âserious questionsâ for ministers to answer
A recommendation for all frontline NHS staff to be given protective equipment during a flu epidemic was rejected as too costly, an explosive memo reveals.
This explains why Germany has a low death rate compared to other countries.
As you would expect the Germans are far more efficient than us when it comes to the numbers that they are testing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_testing A cat has tested positive in Belgium. That couldn't happen in the UK because it wouldn't be able to get a test. I cant recall anyone even mentioning the possibility that pets could catch and spread the virus. Perhaps Boris caught it off his dog. The PM, and Health Secretary both catching it, is a terrific example of leading by example.
I have seen a few people asking the question about pets contracting/passing the virus, the answer from officials was that they couldn't pass/contract it.However I've since seen a few reports that some dogs have contracted it but in this day and age of fake news it's hard to get to the truth.
Coronavirus: âRecord number of tenantsâ being thrown out after government refuses to backdate evictions ban âWe have appointed new agents to cope with the rapid increase in evictionsâ, whistleblowing email reveals
An evictions firm says it is taking on extra staff to kick out âa record number of tenantsâ â after protests that Boris Johnson broke his promise of a ban. Labour said the revelation proved the coronavirus legislation passed â which fails to stop notices being sent out and leaves up to 20,000 renters at risk of losing their homes, because it is not backdated â is woefully inadequate.
Instead, a bar on court proceedings only kicks in now, and landlords can still inform tenants of an intention to evict them after late June, forcing many to prepare to move out.
Now a whistleblowing email from a property management company, seen by The Independent, appears to lay bare how the emergency law is failing to stem evictions.
It states: âWe own a business which has a department where we evict private and commercial tenants when court orders have been gained.
Non-key workers forced into ârisky and distressingâ jobs, MPs reveal âWe are evicting a record number of both private and commercial tenants with 138 evictions today. We are aware of the same actions across the country.â
The company said the government had not made it aware of âany restrictions or official advice since the Covid-19 pandemic was announcedâ â and had received no response to requests for it.
We have appointed new agents to cope with the rapid increase in evictions,â it states. And it warns: âEstate agents, property management agents and landlords are very keen to evict tenants as they need the rent paid in full during these difficult times.â
The Independent asked the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government â on Tuesday â to explain why eviction notices have not been banned, or the legislation backdated, but has not received a response.
The evictions come despite Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, saying last week: âNo renter who has lost income due to coronavirus will be forced out of their home, nor will any landlord face unmanageable debts.â The housing charity Shelter has warned eviction notices for June âwill continue to drop on doorstepsâ â including high-risk people told to âshield themselvesâ at home.
Britainâs 5 million self-employed face a looming tax hike, after chancellor Rishi Sunak agreed to bail them out during the coronavirus economic shutdown. Sunak on Thursday 26 March announced that Britainâs self-employed would be eligible for up to ÂŁ2,500-a-month in state grants for the next three months. The support package comes amid a government-ordered economic shutdown and is estimated to be worth around ÂŁ9bn (ÂŁ11bn), according to the Financial Times. The scheme will help everyone from gigging musicians and Uber drivers to consultants and lawyers. However, Sunak hinted that the grants would be part of a trade off and the self-employed will likely face higher tax rates after the coronavirus crisis abates.
I appreciate his honestly and lack of stealth and good accountancy.
Chancellor's coronavirus bailout ignores many self-employed Actors and other artists in sole-person limited companies to get nothing
Thousands of self-employed people â in particular those working in the creative industries â who set up limited companies have been âdevastatedâ by being excluded from the chancellorâs bailout.
However, it has emerged that neither scheme will help anyone who has set up a sole-person limited company, meaning thousands of freelance writers, photographers and others working in the creative arts will get no help. The Guardian has been contacted by several of those affected, who say this will ruin them financially. They face having to claim universal credit instead, with its far lower payouts.
Thousands of actors, designers, film crew and others found themselves out of work and unpaid when the government introduced its coronavirus restrictions. One of those is a sound engineer who does work for documentaries for the BBC and Netflix. All his projects are on hold and his work has evaporated, he said. âThis is a disaster for thousands of people like me,â the worker, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian, after two hours on while calling the universal credit phone line.
âI was advised to set up the limited company as it was a tax-efficient way to operate, and because it makes processing payments much simpler. Many who work in this world have done the same. We are just as self-employed as those being helped, but inexplicably find ourselves left out the scheme. Itâs devastating.â
Brian Palmer, a tax policy expert at the Association of Accounting Technicians, said this group was stuck in the middle of the two bailout schemes.
âMany of this group draw a low salary and top up their income with dividends. They will not qualify as self-employed, or for a significant payment from the coronavirus job retention scheme. Instead, they risk dropping through the cracks,â he said. âWe must ensure that everyone gets the support they need to stay afloat and that the UK economy is able to not only recover, but also to thrive.â Heather Self, a partner at the accounting and business advisory services Blick Rothenberg, agreed this group was likely to be feeling left behind. âThe government and HMRC have worked incredibly hard to get something out which will help the majority, but there are some losers.â,â she said. âA family with one earner on ÂŁ51,000 will get nothing, whereas another with two people earning ÂŁ49,000 each will get two lots of support. Someone with a mix of self-employed and earned income also may not qualify.â The Treasury has been approached for comment.
Nonchalant': Boris Johnson accused of Covid-19 complacency Government âtoo slow to actâ and ministers have failed to lead by example, health experts say
Boris Johnson was accused of failing to heed his own advice to the public over how to contain coronavirus on Friday as it emerged that he and other key government figures had themselves contracted Covid-19. On a day of extraordinary developments at the heart of the operation to counter the virus, both the prime minister and health secretary, Matt Hancock, said they had tested positive. The chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, also reported symptoms and went into self-isolation. But while Johnson said he would be able to continue to run the governmentâs response to the crisis alone in his Downing Street flat, public health experts rounded on his attitude to the infection and accused him of being ânonchalantâ and âslowâ to behave appropriately. The prime minister has previously been accused of failing to keep an appropriate distance from other senior figures in public, and has continued with parliamentary duties this week, raising the possibility that he may have infected others in the cabinet and beyond.
âThere have been ongoing issues between management and workers at Linden Foods in Dungannon over the issue of the absence of social distancing for workers on theboning line,
âI was advised to set up the limited company as it was a tax-efficient way to operate, and because it makes processing payments much simpler. Many who work in this world have done the same. We are just as self-employed as those being helped, but inexplicably find ourselves left out the scheme. Itâs devastating.â
I have every sympathy with anyone who is struggling during these hard times.
I have slightly less sympathy to people who avoid paying their fair share of tax by taking advantage of these loopholes and then complain they are not getting enough assistance from the Chancellor. A tad hypocritical, don't you think.
When Google, Amazon, Lewis Hamilton and others use tax efficient methods, they rightly get criticized.
Comments
Britainâs 5 million self-employed face a looming tax hike, after chancellor Rishi Sunak agreed to bail them out during the coronavirus economic shutdown.
Sunak on Thursday 26 March announced that Britainâs self-employed would be eligible for up to ÂŁ2,500-a-month in state grants for the next three months. The support package comes amid a government-ordered economic shutdown and is estimated to be worth around ÂŁ9bn (ÂŁ11bn), according to the Financial Times. The scheme will help everyone from gigging musicians and Uber drivers to consultants and lawyers.
However, Sunak hinted that the grants would be part of a trade off and the self-employed will likely face higher tax rates after the coronavirus crisis abates.
https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/coronavirus-covid-19-self-employed-tax-rishi-sunak-060045482.html
The closure of restaurants and cafes, the surge in panic buying, and a reduction in emergency food provision during the coronavirus crisis threatens to quickly spiral into a âcrisis of hungerâ unless the government acts immediately, a leading think tank has said.
The UK government said this week that 1.5 million vulnerable people will be given food parcels during the crisis as part of a local council scheme being run in collaboration with supermarkets and the armed forces.
But the Food Foundation warned on Friday that, because the pandemic has exposed the âextraordinary fragility of the food system,â millions more will need food aid in the coming days.
Rising food prices and supply chain shocks will compound the issues arising from the fact that many people have seen a drop in income and have become âmuch more limitedâ in how they obtain food.
https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/coronavirus-exposes-uk-food-supply-to-crisis-of-hunger-095926583.html
Around 60 workers have refused to start their shifts at a Northern Ireland food processing plant, citing concerns about how the company is handling the coronavirus pandemic, according to trade union Unite.
Employees at a Linden Foods plant in Dungannon, County Tyrone, say that social distancing measures have not been implemented at the facility, and that those exhibiting coronavirus symptoms have still been allowed to work.
âThere have been ongoing issues between management and workers at Linden Foods in Dungannon over the issue of the absence of social distancing for workers on the boning line, in the canteen, changing areas and at entry and exit points,â said Unite regional officer Brian Hewitt on Friday.
https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/northern-ireland-food-workers-refuse-to-start-shift-over-coronavirus-concerns-105819256.html
It will be a bit like me getting a bank loan, and expecting you to help with repaying it.
A police chief has admitted there is confusion around the governmentâs lockdown rules, even as forces vow to deter people from visiting beauty spots and beaches this weekend.
Police said the Lake District was closed, and officers across Britain were patrolling to stop gatherings of more than two people.
One police chief in south-west England admitted to the Guardian that his force had made mistakes in setting up a road block, as constabularies across the UK attempted to convince people to stay at home with sunshine forecast for the first weekend of the lockdown.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/police-acknowledge-confusion-over-uk-170304583.html
Labour says 2017 decision â made when Jeremy Hunt was health secretary â leaves âserious questionsâ for ministers to answer
A recommendation for all frontline NHS staff to be given protective equipment during a flu epidemic was rejected as too costly, an explosive memo reveals.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-nhs-protective-equipment-jeremy-hunt-eye-protection-a9431311.html
I have seen a few people asking the question about pets contracting/passing the virus, the answer from officials was that they couldn't pass/contract it.However I've since seen a few reports that some dogs have contracted it but in this day and age of fake news it's hard to get to the truth.
âWe have appointed new agents to cope with the rapid increase in evictionsâ, whistleblowing email reveals
An evictions firm says it is taking on extra staff to kick out âa record number of tenantsâ â after protests that Boris Johnson broke his promise of a ban.
Labour said the revelation proved the coronavirus legislation passed â which fails to stop notices being sent out and leaves up to 20,000 renters at risk of losing their homes, because it is not backdated â is woefully inadequate.
Instead, a bar on court proceedings only kicks in now, and landlords can still inform tenants of an intention to evict them after late June, forcing many to prepare to move out.
Now a whistleblowing email from a property management company, seen by The Independent, appears to lay bare how the emergency law is failing to stem evictions.
It states: âWe own a business which has a department where we evict private and commercial tenants when court orders have been gained.
Non-key workers forced into ârisky and distressingâ jobs, MPs reveal
âWe are evicting a record number of both private and commercial tenants with 138 evictions today. We are aware of the same actions across the country.â
The company said the government had not made it aware of âany restrictions or official advice since the Covid-19 pandemic was announcedâ â and had received no response to requests for it.
We have appointed new agents to cope with the rapid increase in evictions,â it states.
And it warns: âEstate agents, property management agents and landlords are very keen to evict tenants as they need the rent paid in full during these difficult times.â
The Independent asked the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government â on Tuesday â to explain why eviction notices have not been banned, or the legislation backdated, but has not received a response.
The evictions come despite Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, saying last week: âNo renter who has lost income due to coronavirus will be forced out of their home, nor will any landlord face unmanageable debts.â
The housing charity Shelter has warned eviction notices for June âwill continue to drop on doorstepsâ â including high-risk people told to âshield themselvesâ at home.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-eviction-landlord-tenant-uk-boris-johnson-ban-a9427361.html
Actors and other artists in sole-person limited companies to get nothing
Thousands of self-employed people â in particular those working in the creative industries â who set up limited companies have been âdevastatedâ by being excluded from the chancellorâs bailout.
However, it has emerged that neither scheme will help anyone who has set up a sole-person limited company, meaning thousands of freelance writers, photographers and others working in the creative arts will get no help.
The Guardian has been contacted by several of those affected, who say this will ruin them financially. They face having to claim universal credit instead, with its far lower payouts.
Thousands of actors, designers, film crew and others found themselves out of work and unpaid when the government introduced its coronavirus restrictions.
One of those is a sound engineer who does work for documentaries for the BBC and Netflix. All his projects are on hold and his work has evaporated, he said.
âThis is a disaster for thousands of people like me,â the worker, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian, after two hours on while calling the universal credit phone line.
âI was advised to set up the limited company as it was a tax-efficient way to operate, and because it makes processing payments much simpler. Many who work in this world have done the same. We are just as self-employed as those being helped, but inexplicably find ourselves left out the scheme. Itâs devastating.â
Brian Palmer, a tax policy expert at the Association of Accounting Technicians, said this group was stuck in the middle of the two bailout schemes.
âMany of this group draw a low salary and top up their income with dividends. They will not qualify as self-employed, or for a significant payment from the coronavirus job retention scheme. Instead, they risk dropping through the cracks,â he said.
âWe must ensure that everyone gets the support they need to stay afloat and that the UK economy is able to not only recover, but also to thrive.â
Heather Self, a partner at the accounting and business advisory services Blick Rothenberg, agreed this group was likely to be feeling left behind.
âThe government and HMRC have worked incredibly hard to get something out which will help the majority, but there are some losers.â,â she said. âA family with one earner on ÂŁ51,000 will get nothing, whereas another with two people earning ÂŁ49,000 each will get two lots of support. Someone with a mix of self-employed and earned income also may not qualify.â
The Treasury has been approached for comment.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/27/chancellors-coronavirus-bailout-ignores-many-self-employed
Government âtoo slow to actâ and ministers have failed to lead by example, health experts say
Boris Johnson was accused of failing to heed his own advice to the public over how to contain coronavirus on Friday as it emerged that he and other key government figures had themselves contracted Covid-19.
On a day of extraordinary developments at the heart of the operation to counter the virus, both the prime minister and health secretary, Matt Hancock, said they had tested positive. The chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, also reported symptoms and went into self-isolation.
But while Johnson said he would be able to continue to run the governmentâs response to the crisis alone in his Downing Street flat, public health experts rounded on his attitude to the infection and accused him of being ânonchalantâ and âslowâ to behave appropriately.
The prime minister has previously been accused of failing to keep an appropriate distance from other senior figures in public, and has continued with parliamentary duties this week, raising the possibility that he may have infected others in the cabinet and beyond.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/nonchalant-boris-johnson-accused-of-covid-19-complacency
I have every sympathy with anyone who is struggling during these hard times.
I have slightly less sympathy to people who avoid paying their fair share of tax by taking advantage of these loopholes and then complain they are not getting enough assistance from the Chancellor.
A tad hypocritical, don't you think.
When Google, Amazon, Lewis Hamilton and others use tax efficient methods, they rightly get criticized.
Same principle, just smaller numbers.