Around five million self-employed people could have to wait another month before they see any payments to help them through the coronavirus crisis.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is to give an outline of how the government scheme for freelancers and self-employed will operate.But the complicated system of measuring payments against self-assessment tax returns could take weeks for claimants and administrators to sort.Meanwhile nurses and doctors will have to wait another week for testing kits that will determine whether they are clear to return to work having had symptoms of the virus.Boris Johnson today defended his handling of the coranavirus crisis amid growing criticism of the lack of testing and the lack of cash for the self-employed.