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Coronavirus: the situation for UK-based sole traders
Thread poster: Tom in London
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:00
Spanish to English
+ ...
Ironically ... Mar 12, 2020

... I'm getting quite a few jobs at the minute on the bladdy virus itself.

P.L.F. Persio
 
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:00
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
NONE Mar 12, 2020

Tom in London wrote:

Mervyn Henderson wrote:....


What provision has the British government made for people like us who are not sick, but whose income is suffering because of coronavirus in other countries?


Probably the same as any government: NONE!


Thomas Pfann
P.L.F. Persio
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Not someone else’s responsibility Mar 12, 2020

Tom in London wrote:
Of course I have savings but they are *capital* that took years of hard work to accumulate, is invested where I can't easily get at it, and is not for day-to-day spending.

If I were to dribble away my capital on ordinary expenditures this would compromise my long-term situation.


But this is exactly what your savings are for.

We’ve spent 10, 20, however many years living it large on the self-employed earnings premium and now our hens may come home to roost. You just have to take it on the chin.

I’m sounding worryingly like a Tory here but that’s the reality.

I don’t think we have the right to expect the government to bail us out (unless the situation gets extreme). Let’s face it, they can’t find money for people living in cardboard boxes so they shouldn’t really have to worry about a load of relativity well-paid professionals fretting over a couple of months of reduced earnings.

And I have to say it tickles me pink that the one doing so is our resident curmudgeon


Dan Lucas
sam@fr-uk
P.L.F. Persio
Kay Denney
Kathryn Britton
Wilsonn Perez Reyes
Thomas T. Frost
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
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Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Beware Mar 12, 2020

Chris S wrote:

A series of irrelevancies and ad-homs



" I had two important things before me: the one was the carrying on my business and shop, which was considerable, and in which was embarked all my effects in the world; and the other was the preservation of my life in so dismal a calamity as I saw apparently was coming upon the whole city, and which, however great it was, my fears perhaps, as well as other people's, represented to be much greater than it could be.

The first consideration was of great moment to me; my trade was a saddler, and as my dealings were chiefly not by a shop or chance trade, but among the merchants trading to the English colonies in America, so my effects lay very much in the hands of such. I was a single man, 'tis true, but I had a family of servants whom I kept at my business; had a house, shop, and warehouses filled with goods; and, in short, to leave them all as things in such a case must be left (that is to say, without any overseer or person fit to be trusted with them), had been to hazard the loss not only of my trade, but of my goods, and indeed of all I had in the world. "

Daniel Defoe, "A Journal of the Plague Year" Suitable reading for the moment.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/376/376-h/376-h.htm

[Edited at 2020-03-12 11:09 GMT]


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
🙄 Mar 12, 2020

[quote]Tom in London wrote:

Chris S wrote:

A series of irrelevancies and ad-homs



Lighten up, Tom. We could all be dead in a week...


Andrew Morris
ipv
Joanna Posylek
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
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Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Enough already Mar 12, 2020

Chris S wrote:

More irrelevancies and ad-homs



Stop that please, Chris. You're putting other people off from contributing to this thread. Just be quiet.

[Edited at 2020-03-12 11:17 GMT]


 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:00
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
our industry seems relatively impervious to global crises Mar 12, 2020

I live in the UK and translate from Dutch into English, mainly for European clients, mainly Belgian and Dutch. Over the many years I have been doing this job, I have yet to see a global crisis negatively affect my income due to a reduction in the amount of work coming in. Whatever is happening globally, there always seems to be someone in need of a translation.

Michael


Christopher Schröder
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Sabine Braun
P.L.F. Persio
Susan Madden
Anna Gorska
Ron Willems
 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:00
French to English
Interesting article Mar 12, 2020

This article from IPSE (Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) might be of interest: Coronavirus: what IPSE is doing and advice for freelancers

https://www.ipse.co.uk/ipse-news/news-listing/coronavirus-ipse-activity-and-advice-freelancers.html


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Last words Mar 12, 2020

Tom in London wrote:
Stop that please, Chris. You're putting other people off from contributing to this thread. Just be quiet.

I very much doubt it, but I will happily withdraw.

Do be aware, though, Tom, that in a *discussion forum* it's not really cricket to get arsey every time someone airs a different opinion to yours.

Finally, a quick public service announcement: I have five toilet rolls left that I'm willing to share if anyone's desperate.


Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Dan Lucas
Sabine Braun
Sheila Wilson
sam@fr-uk
P.L.F. Persio
Kay Denney
 
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Germany
Local time: 10:00
English to German
In memoriam
Priorities Mar 12, 2020

Am I the only one who thinks that public health, and the protection of lives, is more important than jobs, budgets, or the income level of anyone?

In my view, the first and foremost concern of politicians should be to contain, manage, and solve the health crisis. Only when this is done, and the crisis is over, they can get back to sort out the financial and economic consequences.


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Sabrina Bruna
P.L.F. Persio
Maria Pia Giuseppina Nuzzolese
Kay Denney
Philip Lees
Chiara Gavasso
 
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
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Member (2004)
English to Italian
For lack of work... Mar 12, 2020

there are no provisions...

 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:00
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Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Useful but Mar 12, 2020

Elizabeth Tamblin wrote:

This article from IPSE (Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) might be of interest: Coronavirus: what IPSE is doing and advice for freelancers

https://www.ipse.co.uk/ipse-news/news-listing/coronavirus-ipse-activity-and-advice-freelancers.html


thanks Elizabeth- very interesting article although it admits that the only provision - such as it is - is only available for those who are already unwell; not for those who are well, but whose revenue has dropped as a direct consequence of coronvirus.


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:00
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Heartening Mar 12, 2020

Michael Beijer wrote:
Whatever is happening globally, there always seems to be someone in need of a translation.

I certainly hope that's the case. The final quarter of 2019 was quite slow, presumably due to the global deceleration in business conditions, with no significant improvement in January, and now coronavirus isn't helping. So far March has been a little worse than February, which was not too bad.

On the one hand, like Tom I fear the consequences of translation demand coming to a screeching halt. On the other hand, like Chris - he of the five rolls of loo paper - I feel that from a moral perspective one cannot really ask or expect the government to do much for us independents. We are supposed to be the rugged individualists of the economy, after all.

Nevertheless, if the powers that be could formally request that UK banks take an understanding approach to credit (e.g. mortgages, or other loans) over the next few months, that might be useful for many freelancers.

Regards,
Dan


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Emily Gilby
P.L.F. Persio
Andrew Morris
 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:00
French to English
. Mar 12, 2020

Tom in London wrote:

Elizabeth Tamblin wrote:

This article from IPSE (Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) might be of interest: Coronavirus: what IPSE is doing and advice for freelancers

https://www.ipse.co.uk/ipse-news/news-listing/coronavirus-ipse-activity-and-advice-freelancers.html


thanks Elizabeth- very interesting article although it admits that the only provision - such as it is - is only available for those who are already unwell; not for those who are well, but whose revenue has dropped as a direct consequence of coronvirus.


In its letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the IPSE has called on the government to introduce a mitigation fund available for self-employed people who are affected by the coronavirus, to cover loss of income if there is a wider slowdown of economic activity as businesses reduce activity and restrictions on movement take place.

It will be interesting to see if the government responds to this.


 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:00
Spanish to English
+ ...
The best advice ... Mar 12, 2020

... I can give you, Tom, is to buckle down at a relatively safe place of work, get on with it like the superb and conscientious translator you undoubtedly are, and worry about falling revenue a little further down the line. You've been in the country long enough for some of that stiff-upper-lip philosophy to have rubbed off on you, surely.

 
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Coronavirus: the situation for UK-based sole traders






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