Does it ever end for the self-employed?

The current pandemic has been hard for everyone but the self-employed of this country have really felt it from all angles of recent.

Some grants have been available to a select few but not having the ability to furlough themselves and try to retain an operation has proven an additional financial burden.

It has seen however, (as we always do in self-employed individuals), a desire and attitude to just keep smiling and work ever harder than before (if that is even possible).

The resilience and mentality in some of the self-employed people I see is inspiring and I too feel your pain (first-hand), in some instances.

To make it harder we are now seeing some lenders further restrict lending to the self-employed. TSB offer a maximum 75% lending and Santander today announcing a maximum 60%. Hopefully I am reading correctly that this is a measure to stem the flow of business and enable Santander to maintain good service levels, but it is making it ever harder to support individuals that are not sitting on their hands but grasping this as an opportunity to revolutionise business and adapt to survive.

Being self-employed means, you have to evolve and anyone not willing to acclimatize and expect, unexpected changes in circumstances is not cut out to be self-employed in my humble opinion. And I recognise also that some businesses may sadly not make it through the times ahead, but I think it is important to ensure the mortgage lending community continue to service and show faith where deserved.

Rather than a single-minded approach - assessing the self-employed subject as a riskier proposition, I ask all lenders and policy makers to support the businesses out there that are deserving of this credit and showing the ability to adapt and survive to the ever-changing environment we live in.

If you are self-employed (sole trader, partnership, contractor, or limited company director) we have advisers here ready to help with any enquiries or concerns you may have.