Growing calls for chancellor to help small businesses and sole traders with more support packages

The chancellor is being urged to rethink tuning his back on helping sole traders and the self-employed or risk failing ‘big businesses of the future’.

Rishi Sunak caused alarm with his summer statement, published earlier this month, when it failed to offer any extension of the current emergency loans support for sole traders, the self-employed and freelancers.

Those excluded from support packages include the newly self-employed, self-employed that earn over £50,000 and directors paid in dividends.

The calls for the chancellor to act comes on top of the treasury select committee who last week accused him of drawing a line under helping those excluded by defending the current support schemes.

The latest to add their voice to an ever-growing group calling for action is entrepreneur Joanna Jensen, founder of toiletries firm Childs Farm.

Jensen launched the burgeoning child and baby toiletries business a decade ago, said it was vital to give the million-plus people who have fallen through the gaps ‘the support that they need right now’.

• Car dealers suffering as they miss out on support and government drags its heels over loans

She said small businesses may be able to find alternative avenues for financial backing, such as crowdfunding and angel investors, but she stressed government support should be available as a first port of call.

‘I for one would be happy that my tax was spent supporting these people to get back on their feet and make their businesses successful. Better that than paying them benefits,’ she said.

‘Right now as unemployment grows, we need to support self-employment and budding entrepreneurs as they could be the big businesses of the future,’ she added.

Some dealers in the motor trade are struggling to get the help they’ve already asked for.

Last week, Car Dealer reported how some dealers still haven’t received the Bounce Back Loans they’ve applied and been approved for. One dealer has waited two months and is still waiting.

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