Thousands of firms ‘facing ruin’

■ Millions of workers failed to qualify for help in crisis, say campaigners ■ ‘A human and economic tragedy, with people bankrupt, losing their homes’

THE GOVERNMENT has been urged to review its coronavirus economic support for businesses amid claims that thousands of enterprises are facing financial ruin due to rules branded unjust and arbitrary by campaigners.

The campaign group ExcludedUK is urging the Government to provide minimum income protection to ensure everyone has the basics to live on, whether in work or not.

Members of the group are also calling for improved conditions for freelancers, the self employed and zero-hour workers, given the precarious nature of their work.

Rachel Flower, one of the national co-founders of ExcludedUK and who lives in Huby, near Harrogate, said: “There is no question people have fallen into financial strife. Many will never forgive the Government.

“We have been working with the debt charity StepChange and other advice charities.

“Some people are losing their homes and have been declared bankrupt.”

The Government has made an unprecedented intervention during the coronavirus pandemic to provide billions of pounds in support to prop up the economy amid the repeated lockdowns to contain the spread of Covid-19.

However, Gina Miller, who is co-founder of the True and Fair Campaign, claimed a two-tier economy was emerging after millions of workers have not qualified for financial support.

She said: “It’s a human and economic tragedy. These people are the hard-working backbone of the country and how do you come out of this crisis without them?

“The three million excluded are unable to support their families and pay into the public purse.

“The Government keeps making the excuse that it is too difficult. But everyone has a tax number. Many people have simply exhausted their funds.”

Ms Flower said the Budget, announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in March, did include an extension of the scheme for the newly self employed.

As a result of the recent extension to the scheme, a 200,000-strong group of workers can now provide their 201920 tax return as evidence of their self-employed status, according to Ms Flower.

But she added: “They can only claim future grants. They cannot backdate them. This is a good example of how unfair this is.

“The devil is in the detail and that is what is so unjust about the way the schemes have been set up.”

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jesse Norman, has maintained that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) had helped to pay the wages of people in 11.2m jobs across the country, with more than £53bn paid out in grants in the UK, protecting jobs that may well have been lost amid the pandemic.

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has paid out almost £20bn in grants to 2.7m self-employed individuals whose businesses have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 crisis, according to a letter from Mr Norman.

Mr Sunak announced in the Budget in February that both the CJRS and SEISS would be extended until September.

Mr Norman added: “The Government has provided an unprecedented package of measures throughout this pandemic to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods and to support businesses and public services across the UK, spending over £407bn over this year and the next.”