OVERWORKING HAS BECOME a necessity for small businesses to succeed during lock down, when help given is extremely minimal.
Small businesses are a fundamental part of the supply chain, however over 7.6 million jobs are not deemed worthy of saving by Rishi Sunak and the UK government. For many decades these people owning small businesses have been referred to as the ‘backbone of the economy’ and are not given the same help and support as the employed/ self-employed.
Kate Solomons-Freakley runs an event company and has lost 98% of her work since March last year. As an Ltd Company Director she has been able to access just £500 a month.
She said: “This does not cover my outgoings for me and my family, let alone cover my business expenses of rent, storage cost, insurances, phone bills and broadband. The business has lost over £140,000 in turnover and I personally have lost a year’s salary.”
Ms Solomons-Freakley has been campaigning with Forgotton.Ltd since April 2020- an organisation supporting small businesses during these times and are the voice of 2 million ltd companies lobbying Gov.
Photo from Forgotten.Ltd Twitter
So many small businesses are started from scratch and take years of hard work and dedication to build. These business owners are having to do whatever it takes to keep their business alive, working 50-80 hour weeks to do so whilst investing money from personal savings.
Ms Solomons-Freakley also said: “when you work out your hourly rate compared to the hours you invest, yes small business owners do often work for less than minimum wage and many earn less than they pay their employees at times.”
Sheffield florist Hollow Meadows says on Twitter: “unfortunately they (the government) are still excluding many small businesses like myself, who is now facing cancellations and postponements again from the 30 plus weddings moved from 2020, 10 years building up my business and it’s heart-breaking to say the least.”
The chancellor implementing the Job Retention Scheme as a strategy to save jobs, putting employees on furlough has helped keep business expenses down. Yet when the owners themselves have not been given the support they need to cover personal living costs, taking on debt and hacking into savings, there will be nothing left to keep the business going which will result into further redundancies. The scheme is set to fail.
As for Sheffield, Sheffield City Council have announced they will make one off payments of £1000 to businesses who have not been eligible for other grant schemes and are impacted by the lock down. The new scheme will give much needed support to small businesses which until now, have fallen through the gaps.
If you’re a small business in need of further support, @ForgottenLtd on Twitter can amplify your voice, they hope that the next budget will be more accommodating to small businesses.