A friend of ours, a lady author for about 3 years has been told by her publisher that due to the Coronavirus the bottom has dropped out of her book sales and that after the end of June there will be no more royalty cheques until things return to normal. Add to that, her recently completed book will remain unpublished for a similar time. She still has her overheads (her illustrator as they are children's books, mortgage, food, etc) and paying her illustrator friend will wipe her out financially but luckily her friend is has agreed to take the money in instalments, until the new book is published.
She is registered as self employed and has been advised by her bank to apply for the government scheme to protect the self employed. She has done this and has been told that she qualifies and can apply from today. Being very independent and still with 2 months royalties to come, she wonders if it is the right thing to do as she is not yet in need of assistance and if things return to some semblance of normal by July, she can survive. She is also willing to get a job in say, a supermarket for the duration and so not need any assistance.
HMRC have a thing called a 'webnair' which is a robot answering questions, many like hers (people who are not yet in difficulties, but may become so) in the most obtuse manner, but threatens those who may apply fraudulently with legal action. They also say, you can take a 2nd job and earn money whilst still on the scheme, which confuses the hell out of me.
Anyone out there who is self employed and thinking of applying for this scheme with any thoughts?
Mike.X