Freelancer Club is backing The Creative Industries Federation and IPSE's proposal to Government asking for support in the self-employed sector. To join over 114,000 others, click here to sign the petition and give your reason. 

There must be a dedicated source of direct income support to compensate the self-employed for lost earnings due to COVID-19.

A Creative Industries Federation survey this week revealed that 60% of creative freelancers estimate that their income will more than half in 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak, and almost 50% of freelancers who responded to our snap twitter poll have already had 100% of their work cancelled.

To support the self-employed both now and through the coming months, an emergency fund is urgently needed that gives a time-limited and carefully targeted cash grant to the self-employed workers and freelancers that need it most.

Such support should be based on average existing earnings of the individual in order to ensure that they can minimise disruption to their lives and meet existing costs and obligations.

Other European countries have put in place similar schemes, e.g. Norway has guaranteed temporary income protection of 80% of average self-employed earnings from the past 3 years up to NOK 600,000.

We propose a government fund of £15bn to provide all self-employed workers a monthly income matching their average existing earnings over the past three years:

• The minimum monthly income to be the Real Living Wage after the basic rate of income tax (£1100 a month approx.)
• The maximum monthly income to be average UK earnings after the basic rate of income tax (£1800 a month approx.)

This fund would operate:

• Administered by DWP and BEIS
• With the government working with financial institutions to trace incomes where possible
• With the self-employed submitting tax-records where necessary
• For an initial period of 3 months with the potential of extension and further money if necessary
• The amounts payable should be subject to ongoing review to maintain the most appropriate level of support for freelancers at this difficult time

Freelancer Club wants to hear your story. If you've been impacted by COVID-19 and would like to share your experience, we would like to listen, offer advice and give you a voice. Contact us to tell us how coronavirus has impacted your freelancing and your life.