A template letter to your MP and The Chancellor regarding self-employed workers and SMEs in the fashion industry earning more than £50k per year in light of COVID-19

Dear (Name of your MP) and Chancellor of the Exchequer,

I hope this email finds you well.

I write to you as a member of the fashion industry, a sector worth over £32bn to the UK economy, growing at 11% year on year and employing almost 1m across the UK. We are an industry of entrepreneurs, with over 57,000 small businesses and right now we need your urgent help. We welcomed the Chancellor's most recent speech, but it does not go anywhere near far enough. The cap on incomes of £50,000 with no London or urban weighting, penalises the self-employed who are doing moderately well and yet whose work with no warning has dried up due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data at Fashion Roundtable, 95% of the sector are following the Government's guidance and self-isolating, over 81% told us they will need financial support and they are collating data on how many earn more than £50,000, but we already know that it is a large amount. If the cap is not lifted we are worried that more will return to work, or seek work and thereby have hugely damaging impacts on the NHS as they put economic necessity above public health.

To put it in perspective, £50,000 might sound a lot to someone not living in an expensive city where most of the fashion work takes place, with all the pressures of irregular work patterns, combined with no sick pay, as well as the monthly outgoings of a high mortgage, or rent, for many childcare costs, plus bills. To give you an insight, in the sector those who are in a marriage or partnership, often one will do the majority of the childcare, meaning the other will earn more, but this does not mean they are high earners if you compare two in a relationship on £49,000 who the Government are going to help, with one earning £55,000 with their partner on £10,000 or less.

Why has the Government put a cap on earnings for the self-employed but not on the earnings of PAYE workers? This needs to be urgently addressed and resolved. A universal scheme which supports all is what is called for, not a scheme which supports those in paid employment and not those in self-employed work. For many who are self-employed, they are self-employed through necessity, not choice, as businesses push them into this. We ask for a blanket approach of financial support to be paid to all self-employed workers and certainly set at a higher level than £50.000 at the very least.  

We also ask for all SMEs to receive the same financial support, as they also are at great risk, as work, projects and access to business evaporated overnight.

If we are to rebuild the economy after this pandemic we require a universal and enlightened approach and that requires universal financial support for all of our workers: not just those on PAYE and not those who earn under £50,000.

We are open for dialogue and supportive to your efforts towards all those affected in Coronavirus turbulent times.

Please advise on next steps,

Your sincerely,

 (Your Name)