I am a self employed dental hygienist who has not been able to work at all since March 2020 lockdown due to a weakened immune system. I’m positive there are many in a similar situation in any profession who are self employed.
The grants have helped us-although there have been some major issues with who receives it and who doesn’t.

We were originally told that the November grant covered Sept , October and November as the previous grants were all paid in arrears. So May’s 1st grant  covered March, April and May, August’s slightly lower grant covered June July and August. The November grant-which thanks to petitions like these got it raised from 20% to 60% which was then increased to 80% due to November’s lockdown should have covered September, October and November. Instead we are told this is to cover November (although we didn’t receive it til Dec) December and January. Then the 4th and FINAL grant in February 2021 (I expect not open to claim until the 27th) set at 20% of our earnings will carry us through til April apparently! I don’t know about you I cant survive on 20% of my earnings. Especially as when you receive the grant it stops you receiving any Universal Credit as it assumes you have earned that whole amount in one month. Instead of taking off tax and NI and dividing by how ever many months it’s supposed to cover and then deducting it from your months benefits I’m sure if it were calculated that way- as monthly earnings monthly-we would still get some sort of benefit still. November’s SEISS grant is therefore needed to cover nearly 6 months-as I had to use it for Sept, Oct and Nov bills, and keep some to pay Dec, Jan and Feb-depending on when we can apply for the 4th grant.
So my petition today is again to even up this massive difference between self employed and the employed who are furloughed on a much higher % than us. Some who are better off -I’ve had friends admit this is the case as they don’t have to pay for travel to work. So why can’t this help be more equal. Please sign and let’s hear from the Chancellor on his plans for helping us through after this new national lockdown as the current “Winter” plan is not enough. Also help those who slipped through the net and stop others abusing the grant.