UNITE VIEWPOINT CORONAVIRUS CONSIDERATIONS
H.G. Wells once said, ‘
...No one would have believed...’
Whilst this quote and indeed the entire works of the ‘The War of the Worlds’ are com- plete fiction, who would have
believed, just a couple of months ago, that the UK would be facing such a dangerous and catastrophic global phenomenon as the COVID-19 pandemic? This is of course a sit- uation that leaves no one untouched in terms of its potential ramifications to both health and to the national economy.
Here on the South Coast, we started to seri- ously notice the slow-down from the evening of Friday 13th March onwards. This was the case as the taxi work started to significantly slow right across our region, and I know that it was a similar picture nationally. It became clear very quickly that many members of the general public were concerned and this caused them to stay at home.
Panic buying became rife and increased at an alarming rate, showing signs of people’s intention to isolate. From a taxi perspective, it was the lack of trade (income) which start- ed that weekend that was (at that stage) of most concern. Sadly, it panned out exactly as most drivers had predicted with the streets becoming deserted and our work drying up almost completely.
Whilst HM Government was fairly quick to announce a raft of assistance to others, mainly employees and companies, they were exceptionally slow in considering the welfare of the millions of self-employed such as taxi and PH drivers, and as I write - they still haven’t!
There seems (at the time of writing) to be no real financial assistance available for cab drivers in the event of having to “self-iso- late” or in the event of their work drying up (which we are already experiencing), save and except being able to claim Universal Credit (UC) or contributory ‘Employment Support Allowance’ (ESA) – we are NOT entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) as are other hospitality workers!
From the limited research I’ve carried out:
Statutory sick pay is £94.25 a week, yet the weekly payment for ESA is £73.10, or £57.90 for people under the age of 25 and Univer- sal Credit is paid at £317.82 per month or £251.77 for the under-25s.
86
We need to know what is available (finan- cially) and furthermore, we need to be reassured that adequate financial assistance will be available to our drivers as a matter of extreme urgency.
The Resolution Foundation has calculated that the average self-employed worker claim- ing ESA would have to survive on only a quarter of their typical income. Another issue is that those who are not already receiving UC will have to wait five weeks for their first payment – although they will be able to receive the money in advance as a loan.
The Government has also said that ‘Business Interruption Loans’ will be available. Yet, the employed masses and their employing com- panies are being given assistance that doesn't have, or will not need, to be repaid. It would seem acutely unfair to most that the self-employed may have to repay any financial assistance for a situation that is not of their making, when the employed are being looked after and not being asked to pay any assistance back at a later date. To do so will merely move any financial hard- ship down the road! In any case, when the work returns, there will clearly be a 'catch up' period! We all pay N.I. contributions!!!
The amount of ESA or UC that can be claimed is lower than SSP and clearly does not cover housing or council tax payments. Therefore cab drivers will be forced to rely on unsecured 'pay day' loans or put theirs and the public’s health at risk as they will have no choice but to work even if ill.
Surely any reasonably minded individual (including those in Government) can see that it is patently unfair that taxi/PHV drivers who provide an essential public ser- vice are being forgotten here.
Many cab drivers have taken out large loans to buy new “clean air” compliant vehicles in addition to their normal licensing and insur- ance payments in order to work. It is clear that the local trade up and down the nation will struggle to survive, not only to be ready to resume working after this current nation- al emergency has passed, but also to feed and sustain themselves and their families during its peak.
At the very least, the Government needs to extend SSP rights to all workers (including the self-employed), place a temporary sus- pension of black marks on credit files, legislate for reasonable ‘payment holidays’ to ease the pressure of loan repayments for as long as the current emergency exists.
But more than that!!! There needs to be “Income Assistance” for out of work drivers such as a weekly social payment or grant based on their last tax return to protect taxi drivers against acute hardship.
Otherwise, self-employed people could struggle to meet their living costs. Many are renters and whilst homeowners have been offered mortgage holidays if they cannot repay because of this Coronavirus, renters have received no such promises.
Throughout Europe, other Governments are ‘stepping up’ and providing adequate, time- ly and in most cases immediate assistance to ALL affected workers – including the self- employed. The simple question is – Why hasn’t our Government made similar provi- sions?
It goes without saying that the taxi/PHV trade is facing some of the biggest chal- lenges and difficulties probably in our history, comparable only to the Second World War. Our sector, the leisure industry is now crashing in real terms and this will most likely only get worse – I’m not being alarmist, merely being realistic and prag- matic.
One thing is for sure, we need help and we need help now!
‘We’re all in this together’ has never been so true, but some seem to be in another group, at least as far as the Government is con- cerned...
Drive carefully and above all, stay well...
Article supplied by: Sean Ridley Secretary Unite the Union South East Region (Cab Section)
Sean.Ridley@unitetheunion.org
APRIL 2020
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112
