Above: James Ahearne was one of many self employed people who gave feedback to the States. 

"As deputies, we have received many representations from the self-employed in the last 48 hours or so illustrating the real fear and despair that many are feeling. I’ve said many times before that I will tell you when we have made mistakes. But on this issue, I don’t think we have made any mistakes. I just think things have moved on and they have moved on fast.

"The package of business support measures which were approved only on 24 March have been overtaken by the wave that is crisis – and that wave has broken financially over the heads of many in our community. So we are playing catch-up. Neither are we alone on this issue. Everywhere seems to be struggling with how best to support the self-employed. And that is no surprise. Because it covers such a wide range of economic activities and business structures. In some cases, owners take a salary from a corporate structure which is supported by the payroll support scheme; whilst in others, individuals take drawings. So the support is working for some but not others.

"I had a call at 0730 this morning from one self-employed business owner who questioned what all the fuss was about, as having gone through the application process, a decision had quickly been reached resulting in Income Support being payable – and indeed Income Support may be part of the solution for many and they should be exploring that as part of their dialogue with the business support team. But I know also that the team handling the applications is struggling with the volume, for which I have no criticism – they are doing a great job with a completely new function and are simply swamped. 

"But whilst in normal times that might not matter, right now, many self-employed simply do not have the luxury of time to wait. So, we’ve moved very quickly and reviewed the support available. Therefore, rather than looking to create new approaches we’ve decided to work with the existing measures already in place. We’ve decided that it is possible to extend the current payroll scheme to include all business owners, including self- employed, which would achieve the important objective for quick implementation. Further details will follow – I hope later today."

Above: Today's media briefing. 

Those further details have already been released, and it's been confirmed that small business grants will also be available to those who are self employed and sole traders.

The changes made are:

• The Coronavirus Payroll Co-funding scheme will be extended so that self-employed individuals (whether operating through a company or as a sole trader) will now also be able to apply for payroll co-funding.
• If a self-employed business owner is on the payroll of the company, then a copy of the payroll should be submitted with the claim.
• Where a self-employed business owner draws their income from the business or a sole trader does not have payroll set up, they will also be able to claim.
• As with the payroll co-funding scheme, a self-employed businessman will be entitled to claim 80% of an amount equivalent to Guernsey's minimum wage. The reference to minimum wage ensures a level playing field. This is currently set at £8.50 per hour (£8.05 for 16- and 17-year olds). For example a 35-hour week would equate to a gross figure of £298. The States of Guernsey will meet 80% of this figure (i.e. £238 per week based on a 35 hour week).
• Exact details of the claims process are being worked out, but it is expected that self-employed business owners will be able to claim up to a maximum of their usual level of income based on their usual hours worked, at a cap of 42 hours, and up to a maximum of £1,241 per month
• It will not be necessary to register as an employer and generate payslips or submit quarterly ETI returns in order to be eligible to claim.
• Compliance checks will be carried out on these claims based on social insurance contributions and income tax data.

In addition to these changes, the scope of business activities that can access both the Small Business Grants Scheme and the Coronavirus Payroll Co-funding Scheme has been widened to include the following:

• Cleaning services
• Window cleaning
• Gardening
• Pet care services
• Waste services (particularly those focused on commercial and building work)
• Estate agents
• Architects and building design services
• Facilities management and office management
• Security and cash transfer activities
• Freight and goods transfer (excluding food)
• Dental and dental hygienists and non-essential personal health and hygiene roles

Charities and social enterprises (not for profit organisations) will also benefit from the changes made as they are now eligible for support from the Payroll Co-funding Scheme where their staff are unable to work as a result of current business restrictions.

Support for those business activities added to the scheme will be backdated to 16 March in line with the support provided to the first tranche of economic sectors.

Paul Whitfield, the Chief Executive of the States of Guernsey said the additional support that has been created for businesses as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, and the decision to widen those schemes, has created a lot more work for the civil service, which it is trying to tackle. 

"The backlog of enquiries that have built up, although unsurprising, due to the volumes and complexities, is not acceptable," he said today.

"We are adding people to the team and by the end of this week, we'll have upward of 20 people on case management with businesses to get them the support they need now. If we need to augment that further next week, we will do so."

Pictured: Financial support is usually managed by staff at Edward T Wheadon House, but like many others they are now working remotely. 

Mr Whitfield has been working on plans to transform the civil service since he was appointment in the last decade. That work has now been taken over by the pandemic.

"Many businesses who are able to do so are operating remotely, the public sector is no different. However, this is a completely new team that did not exist three weeks ago. As no two situations are the same, we're putting on extra call lines and making the process more efficient which will give more opportunity to guide the applicant through the process."

Among the new ways of working is a virtual call centre, which is being created this week and should be up and running by the weekend.

Running it as a virtual facility means there will be no risk to staff manning it, they'll be able to keep it open for longer and Mr Whitfield homes it will address some of the concerns raised by members of the public. 

"It's been quite an exercise, shifting the majority of the administrative work we do in the public sector, to people doing that at home, working remotely 

"I think if we were normally setting up a scheme that affects so much of our business on the island, we'd have normally had working groups, think tanks, to see how we'd do this properly....we put the scheme and the support measures in place very quickly, we're now having to respond to the changes and in particular what we're hearing and the feedback from sole traders, self employed and from business more generally so we are working on that as a shift so we are shifting some of our work force to do that.

"We're caught up with this the same as everybody else so Frossard house, Edward T Wheadon House aren't full of civil servants working on this, sat side by side, we've also got to protect the workforce. So we're developing these processes, these schemes, these guides, these protocols, by everybody working virtually.

"It's quite a task but we will add people. But as someone put to me yesterday, we could put another ten people on it today, but unless we get them familiarised and understanding of the case management and indeed the complexity and individuality of all these cases then actually I would suggest it's worse receiving a call with someone who can't really progress it. 

"We're just trying to hone our competence if you like in that area."

Pictured top: Deputy Gavin St Pier and Paul Whitfield.