One thing that has become clear during the pandemic is that not only do we live in a divided society but that the divisions have widened inexorably in the past six months.

Whereas we used to talk about the public and private sectors the latter has suffered a split between the employed and self-employed.

Public sector workers in government offices and town halls have been relatively unscathed by the financial consequences of the crisis, (public sector employment actually rose by 270,000 in the second quarter from the first, and has increased by 7.0% on a year earlier) continuing to receive their full salaries and generous pension contributions. Those in employment have received some protection in the form of furlough schemes while nearly 3 million self-employed workers have been left out in the cold. The cold is going to turn to freezing for the self-employed this winter following last Thursday ‘s government announcement (which by the way is no accident).

What has come as a surprise, however, although perhaps it shouldn’t, is the lack of support and empathy for these self-employed workers. They fall broadly into two categories: those who are ineligible for the Self-employed Income Support Scheme because of its nonsensical eligibility criteria, and those who are directors of their own limited companies and are paid principally out of profits (if there are any).

This latter category has even been vilified in the press and online blogs as ‘tax dodgers’ who are undeserving of state support.

As an accountant let me put that myth to rest: a self-employed worker earning their remuneration out of company profits can only be paid (what are called dividends) if the company makes a profit on which it has already paid corporation tax. There is then a second income tax charge on the dividend itself. So much for tax dodging!

There is also a matter of the indisputable facts that most new job creation and most product innovation happens in self-employed owner managed businesses, which appears to have gone totally overlooked by the media, anxious for sound bites and shots of empty bars and restaurants to fill their news broadcasts.

No wonder theses self-employed workers are being called the ‘excluded’.

They will shortly be joined by far more workers who will become unemployed. The Government’s winter plan involves a switch from the furlough scheme to a much cheaper subsidy for part-time working, but the subsidy has been so severely cut that it is unlikely to be taken up by many employers. The inevitable consequence is that unemployment will climb and poverty will suck in more families.

This is the deliberate destruction of economic well being by a government to the point that it is life-threatening. There is no other way to explain this. As Arthur Conan Doyle said:

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth”.

So isn’t it about time the Government started telling the truth? It’s not difficult. A long time ago Abraham Lincoln said “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts”.

Noel Guilford