BIG NEWS TODAY. PLEASE READ AND SHARE.
We aim to share a daily summary each day – this will include:
- Information about updates we’ve made to our website and group
- Call outs for help
- Summary of local news
- Key national/international points
If you submit posts, we will often decline posting them to the discussion directly and instead hold them till the single daily summary – to try to reduce the number of posts in the feed and make it easier for people to manage the volume of information. Please continue to submit posts to admins for this purpose.Today’s News is Huge. Please share widely:
- **The Government is to pay 80% of wages for employees unable to work due the coronavirus pandemic, up to £2,500 a month. “**There would be no limit on the funding available to pay people’s wages. The payments will be backdated to the start of March, will be up and running within weeks, open initially for at least three months, and could be extended if necessary.” via The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/20/government-pay-wages-jobs-coronavirus-rishi-sunak
- Unfortunately, the same level of provision has not been made for the self employed.
- From The Telegraph: Should they [the self employed] fall ill, they will be able to claim employment and support allowance (ESA) and/or Universal Credit. The weekly payment for ESA is typically £73.10 or £57.90 for people under the age of 25. However Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said that he is raising the payments for Universal Credit so that the self-employed receive the same amount as someone on statutory sick pay (£94.25 a week).” (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/self-employed-can-get-sick-pay-coronavirus/)
- Claer Barrett, Personal Finance Editor at the Financial Times made the critique *“Around 15% of the UK workforce is self employed. No sick pay, benefits or paid holiday – and now no right to support from the government’s “job retention scheme”. PAYE workers could get 80% of wages, but self-employed get just £94 per week?” *(https://twitter.com/ClaerB/status/1241068402413842432)
- **“Cafes, pubs and restaurants must close from Friday night, except for take-away food, to tackle coronavirus…All the UK’s nightclubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms and leisure centres have also been told to close “as soon as they reasonably can”. **(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51981653)
- **Are you a key worker? The Guardian has a list of official personnel who can still send their children to school. **Key areas:
- Education and childcare
- Key public services,
- Local and national government
- Food and other necessary goods
- Public safety and national security
- Transport, Utilities, communication and financial services
- Gloucester County Council launched their Community Help Hub today to centralise community support efforts.
“We know that there is already a lot of great community support happening across the county and in many areas neighbours are organising themselves locally to offer their help to those who need it.
We are conscious that not everyone has these local connections so we have created this community help hub to match local people who need help, with others who can provide the help they need. If a community group is already up and running there is no need to register here.
Please let us know what you or your business can do to help, or if you or someone you know needs help** using the forms above.**We will pass on the information to the relevant district or borough council to connect people who can help each other, or if appropriate refer individuals to an existing service.”More info here: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/gloucestershires-community-help-hub
Apologies if we missed anything-please submit again or post in the comments below