Midlothian MP appeals for Covid cash for directors of small firms left struggling to stay afloat

Midlothian SNP Owen Thompson will lead a debate in the House of Commons today note-0calling on the UK government to provide better financial support for directors of small limited company, who have fallen through the gaps of existing coronavirus support schemes.

Owen Thompson will lead the debate today

He will urge the Treasury to back a new Directors Income Support Scheme to help company directors who have taken a personal hit from Covid-19.

Mr Thompson said there were an estimated two million micro and small limited companies in the UK, collectively employing 7.5 million people. Many of them had been forced into debt and were struggling to stay afloat.

He said: "For over 10 months now, the directors of small limited companies have been amongst the three million still excluded from UK government support schemes. Our calls to support them have been ignored by Tory ministers.

“The UK government must act now to protect jobs and livelihoods by bringing in a Directors Income Support Scheme as part of a financial package for the three million excluded. If this support is not provided, it could cost far more in the long term to jobs and Scotland’s economic recovery.”

He said the foundations had already been laid for scheme and the Treasury had very little work left to do.

It would be easy to administer and would mirror the existing Self-Employed Income Support Scheme. And it would not be reliant on dividend income, so removing many concerns about fraud.

"It will not provide support for all three million excluded and the UK government needs to address this, but it is an essential step in the right direction and would help a huge number of businesses to keep going.

“The Treasury has had these proposals on their desk for six weeks and yet it still has not given a response. This is not good enough when so many people are facing a desperate situation. There is cross-party support for this proposal – I am urging the UK government to get on board and do the right thing."

Mr Thompson added that Scotland should not have to wait for Westminster to act and its slowness to respond helped make the case for independence.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.