Government is currently looking in intense detail at providing help for the self-employed. We still recommend that you write to your MP using the three asks below."> Government is currently looking in intense detail at providing help for the self-employed. We still recommend that you write to your MP using the three asks below."> Government is currently looking in intense detail at providing help for the self-employed. We still recommend that you write to your MP using the three asks below.">
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Ask Your MP to Support Coronavirus Bill Amendment Protecting Freelancers

Update: This amendment is no longer on the table, but Government is currently looking in intense detail at providing help for the self-employed. We still recommend that you write to your MP using the three asks below.

Published: 24 March 2020 | 12:00 AM Updated: 28 April 2021 | 4:30 PM
The proposed amendment could offer relief to freelancers financially affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Photo credit: Shutterstock

If passed, the new amendment will meet the urgent needs of freelancers that we have been lobbying for – so it is vital that members, musicians and music lovers ask their MPs to vote it through.

The amendment, which is likely to be debated in Parliament very soon, proposes that a scheme of Statutory Self-Employment Pay is introduced.

The scheme would ensure that the income of someone who is self-employed or freelance would not fall below either 80% of their monthly net earnings, averaged over the last three years or £2,917 – depending on which of these amounts is lower.

You can read the proposed amendment in full on the UK Parliament website.

We’ll be covering the debate as and when it happens on our twitter channel – and will continue to keep you informed as we know more.

Write to your MP

It is more important than ever that you write to your MP and let them know why it is so vital that they vote to pass this amendment.

Email your MP using Write to Them.

If you’re not sure what to say, here is something to get you started.

Please ask the Prime Minister to:

  • Implement a Universal Basic Income of £400 per week for the self employed (which equates to the living wage) OR, as in Norway, pay them 80% of their average income over the past three years. 
  • Announce statutory sick pay that is really for all from day one of self isolation whether you have coronavirus or someone in your household does 
  • Give easier access to benefits and an application process that recognises how freelancers pay their taxes 

I also ask that you contact the Musicians’ Union’s Head of Government Relations Isabelle Gutierrez for more about the challenges COVID-19 is presenting me and other freelancers, and what else you can do to support us. 

Remember to explain how coronavirus is already affecting you, and how it will affect you in the next few months.  

Personal stories really do help – they show MPs the truth of the situation and give them case studies to show Government that it is urgent.

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