Ruth Cadbury MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Dear Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP,
I am writing to you regarding the continued struggle facing those who are excluded
from the Governments support program.
I know I have previously written to you about this subject but this is an extremely
important issues and one that remains of great concern for many of my constituents. I
know from previous responses and from your recent letter to the Treasury Select
Committee that the Government have said that they will not be making changes to
these schemes but I would urge you to reconsider this decision.
With the ban on evictions for those renting set to expire and the ongoing economic
difficulty facing West London I’m very concerned that many of my constituents will
suffer even more so from the lack of support.
I have received hundreds of emails from people across a wide range of professions
and sectors who have been unable to receive Support from the Government’s various
programs; whether that is the Self-Employed Support Scheme or the Coronavirus Job
Retention Scheme.
There are a large number of reasons why so many of my constituents have been
excluded from the Governments support programs. Firstly with the SEISS, some have
lost out because they earn more than £50K in profits, some because they earn
exclusively via limited companies, others because they took the bold step of opening
their business in the last year and others because they earn a fraction more of their
income through short term PAYE contracts, rather than solely as a self-employed
worker.
The overriding theme of speaking to my constituents is that these factors are
completely out of their control; many were required to earn this way by their
employers and they of course did not know that these decisions would impact their
ability to receive support. I believe this lack of support plays into the wider difficulty
that self-employed workers in the UK face.
In regards to the Job Retention Scheme, I know that the decision to impose the 19th
March cut off point for an RTI submission meant that many newly employed workers
missed out. Likewise those who have lost their jobs and been unable to be placed on
the furlough now face a daunting and difficult environment to find a new job.
Additionally I remain concerned at the fact that some agency workers who earn via
umbrella companies have been unable to access the furlough; this has had a huge
impact on those such as supply teachers, who play a key role in our education system.
Finally it’s clear that as we begin to leave lockdown, some parts of the economy will
re-open sooner than others, with some sectors such as the creative sector not
expecting to open fully until next year. This means that my constituents currently
furloughed face the prospect of losing the CJRS with no job to return to.
I very much hope that the Government listens to those who’ve been urging greater
flexibility with the CJRS after the October cut off point to ensure that we don’t see
more people being excluded from Government support.
I understand that when this issue has been raised before, the Government have
provided reasoning for these exclusions. Likewise I understand that both you and
other Government Ministers have said that the existing support programs are
sufficient and the Government will not provide any further flexibility. As the
Government looks set to introduce the new Coronavirus Jobs Retention Bonus I’m
concerned that this will see a new government program being set up, some of which
will go to companies who don’t require it- while my constituents will continue to be
excluded from support that they badly need.
Yours sincerely
