The Rt Hon Thérèse Coffey MP

Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions

Dear Secretary of State, 

Financial support and advice for self-employed family business women in regard to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

We are writing to you on behalf of the Emergency Assembly of Family Business Women, an assembly of organisations with self-employed family business women at their heart. COVID-19. Between us we represent hundreds of thousands of members and associates of the country’s, growing and dynamic self-employed family women.  

The UK’s five million self-employed people, who represent more than 15% of the UK economic workforce contribute, through flexible work £305bn to the economy. They are now being asked to also home school their children which will add to their current burdens both economic and wellbeing.  

The self-employed family women will be particularly disadvantaged by the spread of COVID-19.  Firstly, they are generally the main care giver in the home alongside their work commitments, and they now must add home schooling to this caring role.  In addition to this their incomes are far more likely to fluctuate. The volatile nature of the self- employed and freelance world will impact massively at this time on their ability to cover essential outgoings such as rent and utilities.  With the inevitable restriction of movement and suspension of normal life, this group are now very economically vulnerable as will be their families.  

The Emergency Assembly of Mumpreneurs believes immediate fiscal help must be provided and is therefore calling on government to:

• Establish an easily accessible fund available to provide grants for self-employed people who are affected by the coronavirus to cover loss of income.  

We welcome a response on the above as soon as possible as the families of freelancers and self- employed are facing immediate hardship.  If a meeting to discuss these would be of interest, then I would be happy to arrange this. We have also copied in the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care into this correspondence. 

Kind regards 

Sara Guiel The Mumpreneurs Networking Club

Erin Thomas Wong The Mumpreneur Collective  

Orlaith Brogan The Mumpreneur Revolution