MP for Somerton and Frome David Warburton is urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help those self-employed workers who have been denied financial support throughout the pandemic.

Mr Warburton appealed directly to the PM, outlining the plight of those who became self-employed in the year prior to the onset of the pandemic and, due to ‘no more than a quirk of timing’, have not been given the support he believes they need and deserve.

He said: “There have been exclusions that have caused distress and suffering for many: the newly self- employed, freelancers, company directors and entrepreneurs who have taken great risks to start new businesses, thereby creating jobs and opportunities.Those people have worked hard, but when they were most in need of support, they found themselves left behind.”

Mr Warburton has long been appealing to government ministers to address this urgent issue, having previously written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak. He said: “I have written several times to the chancellor in support of those excluded from Government support and have lobbied Treasury ministers.
I wroteand on behalf of a specific group of those who have been excluded. I feel strongly that they must not be failed by the Government in a way which would represent a failure to adhere to adhere to our Conservative values.”

“These are the more than 500,000 newly self- employed people who, through a quirk of timing, found themselves ineligible for the help they needed. “With the March budget fast approaching I urged him to correct this wrong and to provide newly self-employed people with the financial support which they have been deprived of until now. “I told him that entrepreneurs will fuel our economic recovery I felt sure he would want this government to value and support them.”

Parliament’s spending watchdog has called on the government to explain and fix issues with the tax system that has denied freelancers and self-employed workers financial support during the coronavirus pandemic. Campaigners have estimated that as many as 10 per cent of the workforce have fallen through gaps in the support system and have received no help since the start of the pandemic, with self- employed workers and freelancers among the most likely to be excluded.

A group of MPs said the HMRC should publish an explanation of why it cannot help freelancers and other groups excluded from financial support, and asked for steps to be taken to overcome those obstacles.

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