EXCLUDEDUK NEWSROOM

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An inquiry into the future of self employment, led by Prospect (www.prospect.uk.org) was released today - 12th February 2021. The Inquiry, led by Prospect, found that self-employed workers had been hit incredibly hard by the pandemic, and as a ...

RISHI SUNAK has been condemned and rebutted by several MPs recently as he continues to reject the claims of the "excluded" community.  A report by The Express highlights a letter sent to a constituent of Mr Sunak - who wrote to the Chancellor ...

More than 300 business people, MP's, think tanks, media and celebrities have highlighted the plight of the the three million who have been starved of financial support for 10 months, but it's falling on deaf ears – why?  The logical conclusion has ...

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced that it will waive fines for self-assessments that miss the end of January deadline, as long as they are filed online by 28 February. Normally there is an automatic penalty of £100 for not meeting the ...

The government is facing mounting calls to increase the number of grants for self-employed workers. as a survey finds millions are still missing out on financial support. A recent survey of more than 6,000 households conducted by the ONS (Office for ...

The BVEP, (Business Visits and Events Partnership) has submitted a budget request to HM Treasury., reports Conference news.  The budget request aims to secure long term targeted support to aid the recovery of the industry which is projecting that ...

Out-of-date tax systems blamed for 'Gaps in Support' according to some MP's and the Public Accounts Committee. (PAC) Since March, HMRC has provided more than £80bn in support  through government coronavirus support schemes.  however,  "quirks in the ...

Up to half a million freelancers could be handed a last minute lifeline from the government, according to a report in The Telegraph. MP's have put pressure on the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to include up to 500.000 freelancers excluded from government ...

Real stories from real people about what it is like to be #ExcludedUK.  This is Cheryl's story.   READ MORE: https://www.politics.co.uk/video/2021/01/19/i-cry-almost-every-day-cheryl-jones-story/

Report in The Telegraph entitled, "Back to the shop floor: the unemployed office workers falling off the career ladder."  Tells how the Coronavirus pandemic has affected the job prospects of millions as people are forced to take low paid positions ...

Real stories from real people about what it is like to be #ExcludedUK.  This is Chris's story.   READ MORE: https://www.politics.co.uk/video/2021/01/15/absolutely-crippling-chris-scotts-story/

Real stories from real people about what it is like to be #ExcludedUK.  This is Alex's story.   READ MORE: https://www.politics.co.uk/video/2021/01/14/a-struggle-to-survive-alex-laceys-story/

Rishi Sunak is under renewed pressure to give firms more Covid support as figures suggest the UK is heading towards a 'double dip' recession. The chancellor is coming under renewed pressure to provide more financial support to businesses across the ...

A report by David Prosser in Forbes, asks why the Chancellor still refuses to help the 'forgotten' three million. Rishi Sunak has unveiled no new new support for three million Excluded who have missed out on financial support amid the Covid-19 ...

The SNP have urged the Government to do a U-turn on its lack of Covid support for the self-employed , accusing the Tory party  of "abject failure" to provide "a single penny", which has cost lives. SNP shadow chancellor Alison Thewliss said, “The ...

Caroline Lucas MP, writing in The House has said, excluding millions from support is a huge injustice and a stain on the government’s financial response to Covid.

According to the Federation of Small Businesses,  a record number of small firms 'could close' within the next 12 months.

The Government is considering calls to waive fines for late tax returns for struggling businesses and freelancers.

The Government is being urged to consider providing a further SEISS grant, says a report in the Daily Express

The Treasury is considering a scheme to bailout up to a million small business owners previously excluded from COVID-19 support, The Sun revealed earlier. 

Self-employed workers who have not received a penny of financial support throughout the pandemic say they feel "abandoned". An estimated 3 million people across the UK are ineligible for government help.  such as SEISS and the furlough scheme and in ...

PRESS RELEASE   One Million Pairs of Hands - Friday 8 January 2021   One million freelancers, self-employed, and micro business owners will kick start the new business year, this Friday, by helping each other and gaining donations for those in ...

Businesses in leisure, hospitality and retail are to receive new grants to help them keep afloat until spring, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak, unveiled a new £4.6 billion plan to help businesses survive the third lockdown, which was announced on Tuesday, but he again failed to mention any new financial packages for the estimated three million people who have not ...

PRESS RELEASE   4 January 2021   As the PM announces new lockdown measures, ExcludedUK restates the need for those excluded from government Covid-19 financial support to receive immediate help as a matter of urgency.  

A new petition is urging the Government to waive tax bill for Britons excluded from COVID-19 support.

Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, spoke out again in support of ExcludedUK in a New Year video message on Twitter.

New research by the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE) has found that the number of solo self-employed in the UK has fallen from 4.6 million in 2019 to 4.4 million - a drop of 5% compared to last year.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has formed a dedicated scheme to help support creative jobs in the capital. 

The coronavirus crisis poses the greatest threat to mental health since the second world war, with the impact to be felt for years after the virus has been brought under control, the country’s leading psychiatrist has said.

Hello, and very best wishes for the festive season from the team at ExcludedUK. We received such amazing feedback from the 'One Day More'   video  recorded by the ExcludedUK virtual adult choir, that we decided to form another choir by inviting ...

At the end of July, the BBC cast Rishi Sunak as Superman in a video detailing his “plan to save the UK economy”. Newspaper front pages lauded him as “DR FEELGOOD TO THE RESCUE” and even some restaurants named meals after him, paying homage to his ...

Nine months into the Covid-19 crisis, the financial strain on those who missed out are acute and official data indicates that the number of solo self-employed people claiming universal credit more than trebled between 2019 and 2020.

Ten billionaires have got £300billion richer during the pandemic according to a recent report in the London Economic. 

Even since last Friday's Silent Nights activity with #WeMakeEvents we've had another £3k in donations, and have now passed the original target so THANK YOU to everyone that supported in their own way. The money raised can now be shared: > 20% to ...

Writing in the Daily Mail, Mark Harper MP & Steve Baker MP - Chair and Deputy Chair of the Covid Recovery Group, say the government response to Covid must be 'rational and balanced, not driven by panic and should take full account of all the health ...

A report by the Public Accounts Committee, published on 14th December acknowledges that a combination of policy decisions, limitations in the data held in the tax system and the Departments’ prioritisation of implementing the schemes rapidly meant ...

MPs have called on the government to publish a list of companies using the furlough scheme amid growing concern over what the Commons public accounts committee described as, "opportunistic fraud".    

BREAKING: ExcludedUK calls upon Treasury to respond urgently prior to Christmas to provide COVID-19 financial support for those experiencing extreme hardship.

Zero Suicide England, a suicide prevention organisation, specialising in education, training and campaigning to reduce deaths by suicide to zero,  whole heartedly backs the calls of the ExcludedUK campaign for the government to provide support to ...

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a  further extension to the  furlough scheme (CJRS) for one extra month, taking it to the end of April 2021.

Catherine Tyldesley, former star of  Coronation Street, has 'blacklisted' Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, from watching her new comedy play called The Ceremony. 

THE SNP has called for a major package of investment to boost household incomes and stimulate the economy, says a report in The National, after the latest figures from the ONS revealed UK redundancies have risen to a record high.. 

Fuelled by huge job losses in the hospitality and retail sectors,  the number of people made redundant in the UK soared to a record high in October and unemployment now stands at almost 5%.

The Creative Industries Federation said that the Tier 3 announcement is “devastating news” for London’s creative sector as Heath Secretary, Matt Hancock, told the Commons today that all parts of Greater London will be entering the  highest tier of ...

The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) has called on the Chancellor to make "crucial" changes to the CJRS, the first of which is to look at extending the scheme beyond 31 March to the end of June.

Rishi Sunak has been branded a “real-life Scrooge” as millions of households face a bleak Christmas after nine months of being excluded from financial help,  says a report by Harry Brennan and Jessica Beard, in The Telegraph.

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert, warned MP'S of the 'catastrophic' circumstances of not providing short term coronavirus financial support, cautioning that it would be "short-sighted" of the Government not to help those who had previously ...

Volunteer staff at ExcludedUK have been given intensive training to give suicide support to their 25,000 Facebook group membership after eight members of the group recently took their own lives.

The rules of debt collection are about to change - thanks to a successful campaign led by Martin Lewis and the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute. 

The government has executed a string of U turns in the 12 months since they won the last General Election with an increased majority. From the Exam results fiasco to the Marcus Rashford School Meals campaign, Boris Johnson has lurched from one ...

Labour MP for Manchester Withington Jeff Smith, was just one of may MP's who took part in a parliamentary debate on support for people ineligible for Government covid-19 support schemes yesterday.  Because there were so many MPs wanting to speak in ...

HMRC has been condemned for causing distress and emotional trauma to families by using enforcement tactics, which have included the use of eight private debt collection companies.

Almost 10,000 people were expected to be made redundant at the start of this week, according to outplacement firm, Randstad RiseSmart.

A one-off "wealth tax" that could raise as much as £260 billion, should be implemented in preference to increasing general taxes, a report has recommended. The Wealth Tax Commission, a body made up of academics, policymakers and tax practitioners ...

BREAKING: ExcludedUK  prepares for the Westminster Hall Debate chaired by Munira Wilson MP on Wednesday 9 December, 4.30pm-5.30pm on Support for people ineligible for Government Covid-19 support schemes.

A worrying report from The Money Advice Trust has highlighted many ongoing issues that the Government is failing to address. Within their report, entitled: “The full report ‘Back to business: Supporting people in self-employment to bounce back from ...

Business optimism and hiring has surged, reports The Telegraph, as bosses pin their hopes  of recovery on the vaccine.  According to analysis by the Institute of Directors (IoD), Britain became the first country in the world to approve a jab by ...

Oscar winning actress, Dame Helen Mirren warns the pandemic could leave many theatre industry workers unable to pay their rent and says she believes that many people will be struggling over the next two years as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

As many of our followers will know ExcludedUK is working with the House of Commons digital engagement team and Munira Wilson (Lib Dem MP for Twickenham) the chair of the Support for People Ineligible for Government COVID-19 Support Schemes debate.

MoneySavingExpert, Martin Lewis, has issued a warning to anyone who is self employed and able to claim the third round of the SEISS, after he highlighted a flaw in the government's scheme.

RISHI SUNAK recently laid out his Spending Review plans, which included intentions to increase the National Minimum Wage, along with a pay freeze for public sector workers and a reduction to foreign aid spending. The Chancellor however, failed to ...

An article published today by inews, ExcludedUK says members are “losing all hope” and that its' volunteer staff have have had to call the emergency services to stop people taking their own lives. In a tweet posted on Wednesday, ExcludedUK wrote: ...

BREAKING: ExcludedUK joins with #WeMakeEvents and Crisis for ‘Silent Nights, left out, in the cold’

Seven big city Mayors from across England came together earlier this week to pledge their support to people across the country facing desperate financial straits because they’ve fallen through gaps in the government’s financial safety nets.  In an ...

Speaking at prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons yesterday, Boris Johnson denied “abandoning” freelancers and the self-employed, after being challenged by Ian Blackford, SNP who labelled the government's handling of the excluded group ...

Fleur Anderson, MP for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields in SW London, has again written a letter to the Chancellor on behalf of her constituents, imploring him to, 'help the Excluded.'

BREAKING: ENGLAND'S 9 METRO MAYORS UNITE BEHIND THE EXCLUDEDUK AND FORGOTTEN LTD CAMPAIGNS FOR PARITY IN A LIVE PRESS CONFERENCE TO BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 2 DECEMBER 6-7PM. 

At the start of the pandemic, we were told that the CJRS and the SEISS schemes were set up quickly and that problems would be ironed out later, but nine months later there has been little change. Now, it appears that the real danger in the ...

The Government might have injected some festive cheer into the families of the nation, but the recent Spending Review unveiled by the Chancellor earlier this week did not shower the same festive spirit on small businesses. 

The recent Spending Review unveiled by the Chancellor earlier this week delivered yet another blow to Landlords and Tenants alike as they both struggle with rent arrears caused by the financial hardship of the pandemic.  Tenants receiving Universal ...

PRESS RELEASE 26 November 2020 ExcludedUK responds to the Chancellor’s assertion that he has spoken with ExcludedUK on Good Morning Britain today regarding those excluded from government Covid-19 financial support. On Good Morning Britain today, ...

GMB host, Ben Shephard, admits feeling frustrated following a response from the Chancellor, MP Rishi Sunak, after he was asked abut the three million ExcludedUK.

PRESS RELEASE 25November 2020 ExcludedUK responds to the Spending Review as it publishes its latest survey on the impacts on those excluded from government Covid-19 financial support 8 months on ExcludedUK expresses its deep disappointment at the ...

Bristol Mayor, Marvin Rees, joined ExcludedUK and fellow mayors Andy Burnham (Manchester) and Steve Rotheram (Liverpool) earlier this evening at a live event, where people who have been excluded from the government coronavirus financial support ...

A letter sent to the chancellor by UKHospitality, the leading industry body for the hospitality industry, has said additional financial support is “absolutely vital” to ensure hospitality businesses survive a bleak winter.

As pressure mounts on the Government to overhaul its financial support, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has said he plans to announce more support to freelancers in the coming weeks.

Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has rejected calls from a group of MP's to support thousands of small businesses in England, who are facing collapse.

BREAKING: MAYOR OF BRISTOL MARVIN REES BACKS THE EXCLUDEDUK CAMPAIGN FOR PARITY ALONGSIDE METRO MAYORS ROTHERAM, KHAN AND BURNHAM IN A LIVE PRESS CONFERENCE TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY 24th NOVEMBER 7-8PM. 

Speaking to London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, at at virtual event hosted by ExcludedUK on Friday, Melody Schroeder, shared what it was like to be one of the Excluded.

Hundreds of London black cabs are being stored in fields around the capital as work dries up for many of London's black cab drivers. Before the pandemic struck - London had over 23,000 licensed black cabs, but it is estimated that one in five cabs ...

Leading policy experts from 14 universities across the UK, have joined together, expressing their concerns over those currently excluded from the government business support schemes during the on-going pandemic. The group, which includes Professor ...

Following a very successful live online event with ExcludedUK and the three metro Mayors - Sadiq Khan, Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, here is a copy of the letter being sent to the Chancellor. Sadiq Kahn described the current situation as, "A ...

Sadiq Khan and fellow Mayors, Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, have written a joint letter to the Chancellor, asking him to close the gaps in his financial support schemes.  Nearly three million people nationally are currently excluded and affected ...

The live broadcast will begin at 13:00 on Friday 20th November 2020.

LIVING ON POT NOODLE...eating every other day and forced to ration food - the harsh reality of being #ExcludedUK.

ExcludedUK are delighted to announce that we are now members of the National Suicide Prevention Alliance. Set up in 2013, the NSPA is an alliance of public, private, voluntary and community organisations across England, who care about suicide ...

Hundreds of London black cabs have been mothballed in fields around the capital because work has dried up during the coronavirus pandemic.

BREAKING: MAYOR OF LONDON SADIQ KHAN BACKS THE EXCLUDEDUK CAMPAIGN FOR PARITY ALONGSIDE METRO MAYORS ROTHERAM AND BURNHAM IN A LIVE PRESS CONFERENCE TO BE HELD ON FRIDAY 20th NOVEMBER 1-2PM. 

We have many meetings as politicians. To be honest, a lot of them pass without creating much of an impression. But, occasionally, one comes along which leaves you winded. Thursday night was one of those. My good friend Steve Rotheram and I hosted a ...

The aim is to provide debt support and advice for ExcludedUK members, many of whom are now facing serious financial crisis after more than eight months of no financial support during the pandemic. According to the partnership, since the pandemic ...

At school, my history teacher Ms Fox (the first Ms I ever knew) often told us when we complained about things: “Life’s not fair, child. Get used to it.” She was right, not that teachers would get away with sharing such pragmatic advice today. It is ...

Financial woe and the burden of debt is pushing people to the edge. There are an estimated 3 million people left out of Government income support schemes, according to Excluded UK, a campaign group. Many have had to borrow to survive. The Salvation ...

The government’s much-ridiculed careers quiz cost taxpayers almost £1.7million, it has been revealed. The National Careers Service skills assessment was launched last year, but people flocked to the website last month after chancellor Rishi ...

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region, in a meeting hosted by the IoD on Friday morning said: “When the Government does something like this it is supposed to carry out a rigorous and robust assessment to ensure it does not discriminate ...

Referring to the PMQ's earlier this week,  The Daily Express highlights the Leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer's statement that took the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to task over the 'mistakes' in the Self Employment Income Support Scheme and ...

Salford has 273 new confirmed cases of coronavirus bringing the cumulative total to 11,199. The figure is well up on the last few days, while the seven day rate per 100,000 population rose slightly from 534.7 to 536.6. There were three new ...

The Telegraph story starts by outlining the serious mental health impact experienced by those affected;

The government has been slammed for ‘discriminating’ against the self-employed during lockdown, but it argues its support scheme is one of the ‘most generous in the world.'

Campaign Group 'Pregnant Then Screwed' has been been granted permission for judicial review against the Chancellor of the Exchequer for discriminating against women in the implementation of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

In an exclusive virtual press briefing, held last night (Thursday 12th November), Mayors Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham joined ExcludedUK founder and director of Policy and Communications, Sonali Joshi to find a united way to do whatever needs to ...

Local counsellors in the Midlands town of Solihull have identified the severity and impact of the thousands within their region who are falling through the cracks. 

BREAKING: LIVE EVENT WITH MAYORS ANDY BURNHAM & STEVE ROTHERAM TOMORROW (THURSDAY 12TH NOVEMBER 2020) 7pm – 8pm

As many as 3 million self-employed workers have fallen through the cracks of the government’s furlough scheme with many plunged into poverty, forced to rely on food banks and some even facing homelessness.

Gaps in the furlough and self-employment schemes meant not everyone has been able to access financial support. We must call out this injustice.

STEPCHANGE & EXCLUDEDUK ANNOUNCE NEW PARTNERSHIP ExcludedUK, the organisation set up to help and support the estimated three million people who have received no significant financial support from the UK government during the coronavirus crisis ...

This week started off with a few mentions from Piers Morgan on ITV's Good Morning Britain, following a successful 'twitter storm' run by ExcludedUK on social media. 

On Saturday last weekend, as Boris Johnson prepared to announce the lockdown he had desperately tried to avoid, a vaguely familiar figure slipped into 10 Downing Street to scrutinise the scientific data for himself. It was not a Cabinet minister, ...

Rishi Sunak has smashed the Treasury’s piggy bank again, defying the department’s usual caution on borrowing to ramp up the furlough scheme for the winter months. The Chancellor was forced into the decision by the resurgent pandemic, bringing back ...

Rishi Sunak has smashed the Treasury’s piggy bank again, defying the department’s usual caution on borrowing to ramp up the furlough scheme for the winter months. The Chancellor was forced into the decision by the resurgent pandemic, bringing back ...

PRESS RELEASE 5 November 2020 ExcludedUK acknowledges the generosity extended by the Chancellor today, to all those that have already enjoyed such support since late March 2020, through the extension of the 80% CJRS to end of March 2021 and a ...

Yesterday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak confirmed that the furlough scheme will be extended across the UK until the end of March - but there are still some who don’t qualify.

The UK government has pledged £7.3bn in a refreshed package of support for self-employed people. But critics say that almost 3 million workers may be out of pocket, with the second coronavirus lockdown in England, and the Covid-19 restrictions in ...

I suspect that even Rishi Sunak is struggling to keep up. He is the chancellor with the budget box of many colours. At a rough count there have been at least eight different statements to announce new furlough measures since March, even if only five ...

Months of worry and sleepless nights has taken its toll on Helen Godbold-Eade. "I swing between anger and depression, hope and despair," she said. "And exhaustion, always exhaustion."

SEISS has provided important support to the self-employed amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. However, with the third grant recently released, there has been concern some Britons could be excluded.

The self-employed are to be given extra help to survive the second Covid-19 lockdown, Rishi Sunak has said.

The PM faces questions over making Tory peer Dido Harding, who is head of the programme, boss of the new National Institute of Health Protection

MINISTERS are at war over Rishi Sunak's budget in the new year over whether to hike or slash taxes to tackle the coronavirus crisis.

PRESS RELEASE 31 October 2020 As increased lockdown restrictions are announced by the Prime Minister, ExcludedUK steps up its calls for help for those individuals and businesses excluded from meaningful support   Further to today’s announcement of ...

The government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme drove up Covid-19 infections while offering only short-lived economic benefits, a study suggests. The research concludes that the £500 million scheme, championed by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, led to a ...

Hundreds of thousands of workers face benefit cuts next month despite rising Conservative unease over moves to switch off emergency coronavirus support. Ministers are preparing to reinstate rules in a little over two weeks’ time that will cut ...

Ever since the coronavirus crippled the UK, hundreds of billions of pounds of aid have been on offer to those worst affected. But now some of that support will be pulled on Halloween. The generous furlough scheme will end, and mortgage and loan ...

PRESS RELEASE: 25 October 2020 "SEISS was terribly targeted”, ExcludedUK welcomes the findings of Resolution Foundation’s latest report. ExcludedUK welcomes the findings of Resolution Foundation's latest report which reinforces the calls made by ...

Rishi Sunak was under pressure to reveal details of his financial interests last night after it emerged that he had put his investments into a blind trust. Opposition parties and transparency groups called on the chancellor to be “completely ...

THE Welsh finance minister Rebecca Evans has announced an extra £10m package to help protect workers who are not eligible for the UK Government’s job retention scheme.

Rishi Sunak’s flagship scheme to help the self-employed through the pandemic has handed £1.3bn to workers who saw no loss of income while giving nothing to 500,000 people left without work, new analysis has revealed.

Britain is sleepwalking into a debt crisis that will undermine its prospects of a sustainable recovery. It’s not the debts of the government that are at issue; it is the monumental amount of borrowing by the private sector, much of it from the ...

Staff could be furloughed, and now they can get their wages covered on the job retention scheme. Entrepreneurs and start-ups have been helped through the Future Fund. Businesses that are forced to close their doors are being offered cash grants, and ...

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been barred for life from a pub in his constituency over his decision to vote against providing free meals to eligible school children during the half-term holidays. Mr Sunak and three other northern Tory MPs - Jacob ...

The government has been accused of “putting the misplaced fear of possible fraud above providing support”, as a report finds one-quarter of freelancers have missed out on help. The NUJ lambasted the government after it emerged that around 23% of ...

Almost half a million self-employed workers have been “left in the lurch” by government support covering just two-fifths of their normal income despite the launch of tougher coronavirus restrictions, Labour has warned.

The Covid-19 pandemic has already proven to be one of the largest health crisis in living memory and has the potential to be equally damaging to mental health. Unfortunately, government decisions could be exacerbating these problems for the three ...

Single, heavily pregnant and recently served with an eviction notice: if anyone had told 31-year-old Emma Kiernan how her life would be turned upside down in the space of six months she would never have believed them.

MARTIN LEWIS has responded to criticisms from the Chancellor of the Exchequer in regards to how many people are being left out of the government's various support schemes. Rather embarrassingly for Rishi, Martin used HMRC's own data to prove his ...

Chancellor Rishi Sunak just changed the rules on how much people can be paid if they've lost work thanks to coronaivirus - but financial guru Martin Lewis has seen a rather large hole in it already.

British finance minister Rishi Sunak will address parliament on Thursday about the outlook for the economy, as he faces growing pressure to offer more support to businesses and workers hit by tightening COVID lockdown rules.

Rishi Sunak has won a battle with Boris Johnson to delay tens of billions of pounds of infrastructure and military spending that he believes coronavirus-ravaged public finances can no longer afford. The government has confirmed it is scrapping a ...

Gyms will be able to reopen in the Liverpool City Region, the area's mayor has said. They were ordered to close when the area was placed into tier 3 of the coronavirus restrictions last week.

The NEC Group is to shed 450 jobs, more than half its workforce, after Covid devastated the events industry. The Birmingham-based company has been hit hard after being unable to hold exhibitions, concerts or shows after the government banned large ...

When Baroness Diana “Dido” Harding was handed the job of leading NHS test and trace, the dizzying brief that ministers set her was to beat the world. But it was not, she says, to save Britain. It may have seemed that her £12bn programme had the star ...

Arts organisations and businesses desperate for financial survival have been told that rescue grants are tied to them publicly praising a government campaign.

Campaigners believe as many as three million freelance and self-employed workers have been unable to claim on the Government’s support schemes. The Prime Minister has rejected claims that the self-employed were not receiving support from the ...

A University of Hertfordshire graduate from Essex has sent Rishi Sunak a bill for £42,000 after the Chancellor said people should "adapt to get jobs". Luke Osborne graduated with a degree in graphic design in 2015, and went into full time employment ...

Anneka Hicks is the founder of ExcludedUK, a grassroots non-profit organisation committed to providing personal, business and career support to those facing hardship as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Anneka is an experienced marketer, ...

With little certainty around when gigs and conferences could return, an entire sector of jobs is at risk. Jamie, in Basingstoke, spoke to The Big Issue about being made redundant from his events job and being forced to abandon his career to support ...

Industry figures representing musicians and live crew have called for more financial protection to help them survive until gigs can return in April.

"We will support jobs, we will support incomes, we will support businesses, and we will help you protect your loved ones. We will do whatever it takes". Those were Rishi Sunak's words to the Commons as the UK teetered on the brink of lockdown in ...

  Freelancers have, on average, lost a third of their income in the pandemic yet millions have been unable to claim from any Government's support scheme. They face tax bills for last year's earnings as well as any debt deferred from this summer plus ...

Dominic Cummings and his family are liable for council tax on two properties built at his family’s farm in the northeast of England, but backdated charges that reportedly could have amounted to tens of thousands of pounds will not apply.   

  Amazon will not be affected by the new digital services tax but small traders who use its online marketplace will be penalised, HMRC has admitted. Ministers had claimed that the tax, announced in April, would make “global giants with profitable ...

Pubs are set to mount a legal challenge against plans to shut the country's bars. Both the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) and the British Beer and Pub Association are instructing lawyers over the plans which are expected to be announced on ...

What has it been like to see your source of income dry up during the pandemic? This is the reality for many freelancers and self-employed people. The grassroots organisation set up to support them, Excluded UK, estimates about three million people ...

The culture secretary has urged artists struggling financially during the coronavirus pandemic to "hang on in there for as long as they can". Oliver Dowden was speaking at the Old Vic in Bristol as he announced the latest recipients of the ...

A legal action has been launched over the government’s failure to disclose details of its spending on contracts related to the pandemic, as it emerged that it has failed to account for £3bn spent on private contracts since the start of lockdown.

PRESS RELEASE 9 October 2020 ExcludedUK responds to the Chancellor's statement on the “expansion” of the Job Support Scheme ExcludedUK expresses its extreme disappointment at the statement made today by the Chancellor in relation to expanding the ...

When Bayo heard about the coronavirus, she started to worry. In February, her friend, who owned a fashion business, had had their entire supply chain destroyed. The next month, companies began to pare back, and Bayo lost five of her biggest clients. ...

Rishi Sunak made the entirely predictable U-turn today of resuming a form of furlough, after repeatedly claiming that it would end this month and after announcing a ‘job support scheme’ that simply wasn’t up to the job. With further local lockdowns ...

MPs are set to get a pay rise of £3,300 next year, despite coronavirus wreaking havoc on the UK economy. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) proposed their wages should continue to be linked to the public sector three-month ...

  Labour has claimed that the Government is "clawing back" more than £1 billion of funding that had been allocated to support businesses through the coronavirus pandemic.

Dear musicians and other artists, please get a grip. The suggestion made this week by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, that, should you wish to keep afloat, you’d best look to retraining and finding alternative employment rather than expect government ...

Boris Johnson is to close pubs and restaurants in northern England on Monday as hospitals face being overwhelmed by a rising number of coronavirus cases. The prime minister signed off on the lockdown last night alongside new financial support and a ...

Business Live: Jamie Veitch's Sheffield Live radio show Tony Robinson OBE is my guest for episode 316 of Business Live. Tony has hard won advice for anyone who runs their own business or is thinking about starting one. And he’s someone who has waled ...

CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak defended his Eat Out To Help Out scheme today — and revealed his frustration at the 10pm pub curfew. In an exclusive interview with The Sun, he bit back at claims that the popular cut-price meals deal fuelled a second wave of ...

UK catering firms are among those going under as businesses struggle amid the coronavirus restrictions, industry groups have warned. The events industry has warned of an "existential threat" to the sector, while a survey from the British Chambers of ...

Leaked emails reveal that wealthier seats and new blue strongholds are being spared the harshest restrictions.

Women have been hit hard by the economic fallout of COVID-19 and taking on a greater share of domestic work and childcare. Visits to the website of the domestic violence charity Refuge have seen a phenomenal rise of 950%. More women than men work in ...

Millions of freelancers, landlords and company directors struggling due to Covid will be charged interest if they break down their annual tax bills into more affordable monthly payments, paying more as a result. 

A former chef to the Northern Ireland football squad is taking legal action against the UK Government over his exclusion from a Covid-19 hardship fund. Brian Donaldson claims he suffered discrimination by being unlawfully kept out of the Self ...

The government’s £500m subsidy for restaurant and pub meals failed to improve the finances of the UK’s hospitality and catering industries in the third quarter, according to a business survey.

Rishi Sunak’s winter economy plan prioritises additional support for “viable” jobs. However, critics have warned that other measures are still needed to help people who have already lost their jobs or will lose them despite the new government scheme.

The Labour Party’s Anneliese Dodds has highlighted seven ways in which the winter economic plan put forward by Rishi Sunak in a parliamentary statement last week “fails Britain’s workers” in a letter to the Chancellor.

A photo documentary about the Panto Parade in London on the 30th September 2020. A collaborative Day of Action by ExcludedUK, Bectu, Equity and #WeMakeEvents.

Tony Blair once joked that you could declare war in a speech about skills and no one would notice. The lack of interest in vocational education has long been a cause of hand-wringing shame among the policy-minded political and mandarinate ...

PRESS RELEASE: 29th September 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson abandoned his plans for a second national lockdown over fears Rishi Sunak could quit, a senior MP said as rift claims deepen. 

MILLIONS of people are desperately seeking help after being left out of the Treasury’s pandemic support schemes entirely. Thousands of Scottish business people are thought to be ineligible for all of Rishi Sunak’s previous job-saving announcements, ...

The money left by Kim Kingston’s husband, David, when he died of a brain tumour, aged just 47 in November 2018, helped her to grow her business in the way he knew she had always wanted.

CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak has been accused of ignoring millions of struggling self-employed workers by a city photographer who has received ‘zero government support’ since his business ‘fell off a cliff’ when the coronavirus lockdown was triggered.

The Government has announced a new economic scheme in order to help save jobs in the coming months, and the Money Saving Expert wants the Chancellor to do more for the self-employed.

Rishi Sunak’s winter economic plan leaves up to three million people without any specific job support and risks significant unemployment, MPs and economic experts have claimed.

PRESS RELEASE

The Treasury has scrapped plans for an Autumn Budget this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Conservative MPs have stepped up pressure on the chancellor to renew support for businesses hit by the latest coronavirus restrictions, as backbenchers warned the prime minister they are unlikely to support many more curbs on freedoms.

PRESS RELEASE

Rishi Sunak is to extend the Treasury’s UK-wide programme of business support loans as ministers race to cushion the economy from what England’s chief medical officer will on Monday call “a very challenging winter”.

Weighed down by the pandemic and personal issues, the prime minister is appearing ever more downbeat

Rishi Sunak is considering a freeze on benefits and public sector pay as he tries to get a grip on the spiralling cost of the coronavirus pandemic – and boost his own political ambitions.

A woman from Hemel Hempstead is part of ExcludedUK's Facebook community group which has released a powerful video of over 100 people singing a parody of, ‘One Day More’ from Les Miserables.

A VIRTUAL choir have made their voices heard to the UK Government thanks to a music teacher who grew up in Dunfermline.

The Government has spent billions supporting businesses through coronavirus. But as many as three million workers have fallen through the gaps, and some business are not being allowed to reopen even as support starts to wind down.

When the government announced the furlough scheme for workers hit by the coronavirus lockdown, they initially forgot about the estimated five million self-employed people in the UK. After campaigning from several MPs and lobbying groups, ...

I began 2020 heading towards the final preparations of what was to be my most ambitious curatorial project to date. In the year of the Tokyo Olympics, I was aiming to present a programme of moving image works from Japan exploring the relationship ...

Through no fault of their own, an estimated 3 million people have had no proper financial support over the past six months. The government’s next U-turn must be to overturn this huge injustice.

The National Audit Office says it will investigate procurement amid concern over level of furlough scheme abuse.

It's a tough time in the jobs market, as firms shed staff or freeze recruitment to cut costs. The UK has fallen into recession and   recently suffered the largest drop in employment in a decade .

The chancellor has said looking for new ways to protect jobs is his "number one priority" after the unemployment rate hit its highest level in two years.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) leader will urge government to act to prevent "mass unemployment" amid the pandemic.

Tory MPs have a new Whatsapp group entitled, “What the f*** is going on?”. After a week in which the government has promised to break the law while dramatically limiting the nation’s freedom by statute, it’s a fair question.