Just Musing, Is This A Mad Idea

[royfromaus]

Instead of paying people 80% of their wages to sit at home, why not freeze every payment going in and out of their bank account barring a payment from the government off £50 per family member to buy food. All most of us need to do at this current time is sit at home and eat. This would sort out the problem of the self-employed (me) getting nothing.


So mortgages are frozen and you do not have to pay these arrears back. Rents to landlords frozen and not required to be paid back at a later date (I rent houses and would be fine with that) Broadband providers and utility providers suck up the cost of providing services to keep us warm and entertained.

This would if I'm correct cost less than 3.5 billion per week.
So basically everything is on hold financially for everyone.
Those who have to work get their usual wage.


Feel free to tear the argument to pieces or add ideas.

[Zacs-Master]

The complications of every company claiming back money from the government for people not paying bills would be immense. There are also legal implications of such things as insurances not being paid.
The governments proposal to use HMRC (which every company already has an account with) Is far simpler.

[Zacs-Master]

I’m not sure where you’re getting the £3.5b per week figure from.

[fiction-factory]

So would wage and pension payments by bank transfer be frozen too?
Have you any savings?

[fiction-factory]

roughly 70 million people x £50 I think, Zacs

[royfromaus]

66 million x 50 is less than 3.5 billion?

So everything, as it is now, is simple?

[royfromaus]

I have savings that are being eaten away far too fast.
If tenants stop paying rent I am basically knackered and would have to live off the state when this mess is over.

And what happens the next time (as there will be) there's a pandemic, same again?
If this pandemic has crippled the economy it stands to reason the next one will far worse.

[ToraToraTora]

The flaws in this idea could form a book in their own right, better stick to CB me old china.

[royfromaus]

You would need to get a good proofreader before you embark on writing a book, Rodney.

[royfromaus]

This 'far simpler' system is looking like bullshhhh. Yes, it's fine for people who have relied on other people to employ them, 80% of your wage to sit on your ass is grand but is it fair?

I thought TTT was some financial wizard but I should have known better, then again cashiers don't need to know that much really.

Has anyone managed to get through to their mortgage provider yet?

[Zacs-Master]

Maybe if you weren’t so aggressive and insulting, you might encourage more responses?

I can see you’re a bit miffed about the government’s attempt to keep the country afloat by prioritising employees but there is hope on the horizon for the self employed too!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/uk-government-set-to-pay-self-employed-workers-80-of-earnings

By the way, many of us employed people are still under the threat of redundancy and it’s yet to be proven that the 80% wages will be paid, so we’re all really in the same boat.

[fiction-factory]

Are you an electrician or similar?

[royfromaus]

By the way, many of us employed people are still under the threat of redundancy



Exactly.
We'll give you money if you promise to keep employees on. Luckily every employer in the UK is trustworthy.

Some businesses are getting grants willy-nilly. A friend of the wife is awaiting the ten grand that she doesn't need, it will probably be spent wisely at William Hill online bookmakers.

[fiction-factory]

You can freeze every payment going out of your own bank account by cancelling the DDs.

[Zacs-Master]

They’re keeping employees on in the hope that when (if) business takes off again, companies will have the resources to deal with it. It’s eminently sensible.

Did you read the article in the link?

What is the £10k grant for?

[royfromaus]

All self-employed are in the same boat, what does it matter what particular job they do?

Rishi Sunak obviously knows more about finance than me but I can not see how this approach could be sustainable if we had another similar virus within the next few years.

[royfromaus]

small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief

[fiction-factory]

I wondered for two reasons. One to see if you were who I thought you might be but more importantly because some self employed can still work and some will do well out of it.
I agree none of this is sustainable economically if the lockdown lasts a year and then a further virus comes along, but it seems sensible to me for now given that many people have not put money aside for a rainy day .

[Zacs-Master]

Nobody has any idea how this is sustainable outside of the cabinet office and the IMF. It obviously isn’t in the long term and I suspect the world economy will be nackered for a good few years and that we’ll see income tax rises. In the mean time, we make the best plans we can.

[fiction-factory]

On the bright side, the self employed have done rather well in the past in terms of NI so may have those savings to fall back on

[royfromaus]

Your thoughts are probably correct but I have never been an electrician.

How can I respect the 'stay at home' policy and do nicely from this crisis?