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  • endemic with new support for the self employed.

  • Our step by step action plan is aiming to slow the spread of Corona virus so fewer people need hospital treatment at any one time.

  • Protecting the N H s is ability to cope at every point.

  • We have followed expert advice to be controlled in our actions, taking the right measures at the right time.

  • We are taking unprecedented action to increase N HS capacity by increasing the number of beds, key staff and lifesaving equipment on the front line to give people the care they need.

  • That is why it is absolutely critical that people follow our instructions to stay at home so that we can protect the N hs and save lives.

  • Our action plan to beat this pandemic is the right thing to do.

  • But we know that people are worrying about their jobs and their incomes.

  • Working closely with businesses and trade unions, we have put together a coherent, coordinated and comprehensive economic plan, a plan which is already starting to make a difference.

  • Big employers like Bru Dog, Timpson Tze and Prepped have already said that our Corona virus jobs retention scheme means they will protect thousands of jobs on we're Publishing this evening detailed guidance on how the scheme will operate so that other businesses can protect jobs too.

  • Small businesses are already benefiting from the Corona virus business interruption loans of up to £5 million which interest free for 12 months with 30,000 enquiries in just four days.

  • Local authorities are already in forming over 700,000 retail, hospitality and leisure businesses that they will pay no business rates this year.

  • And the new hardship grand scheme providing cash grants of up to £25,000 for the smallest businesses is now up and running.

  • So with any business is struggling and worrying, they may need to lose staff.

  • I would urge you to log on to business support dot gov dot UK and look very carefully at what support is available before deciding to lay people off.

  • I'm proud of what we've done so far, but I know that many self employed people are deeply anxious about the support available for them.

  • Musicians and sound engineers, plumbers and electricians, taxi drivers and driving instructors, hairdressers and child minders and many others through no fault of their own risk losing their livelihoods to you.

  • I say this.

  • You have not been forgotten.

  • We will not let you behind.

  • We all stand together.

  • So to support those who work for themselves.

  • Today I'm announcing a new self employed income support scheme.

  • The government will pay self employed people who have been adversely affected by the Corona virus a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly profits over the last three years up to £2500 a month.

  • This scheme will be open to people across the UK for at least three months and I will extend it for longer.

  • If necessary.

  • You'll be able to claim these grants and continue to do business.

  • And we're covering the same amount of income for a self employed person as we are for furloughed employees who also receive a grand worth 80% that's unlike almost any other country and makes our scheme one of the most generous in the world.

  • Providing such unprecedented support for self employed people has been difficult to do in practice.

  • On the self employed are a diverse population with some people earning significant profits.

  • So I've taken steps to make this scheme deliverable and fair to make sure that the scheme provides targeted support for those most in need.

  • It will be open to anyone with trading profits of up to £50,000 to make sure only the genuinely self employed benefit.

  • It will be available to people who make the majority of their income from self employment and to minimize fraud.

  • Only those who are already in self employment, who have a tax return for 2019 will be able to apply.

  • 95% of people who are majority self employed will benefit from this scheme.

  • HMRC are working on this urgently and expect people to be able to access the scheme no later than the beginning of June.

  • If you're eligible, HMRC will contact you directly, ask you to fill out a simple online form, then pay the grant straight into your bank account and to make sure no one who needs it misses out on support.

  • We have decided to allow anyone who missed the filing deadline in January 4 weeks from today to submit their tax return.

  • But I know many self employed people are struggling right now, so we've made sure that support is available.

  • Self employed people can access the business interruption loans.

  • Self assessment income tax payments that were due in July could be deferred to the end of January next year, and we've also changed the welfare system so that self employed people can now access universal credit in full.

  • A self employed person with a non working partner and two Children living in the social rented sector can receive welfare support of up to £1800 a month.

  • The scheme I've announced today is fair.

  • It is targeted at those who need it the most and crucially, it is deliverable and it provides an unprecedented level of support for self employed people.

  • As we've developed the scheme, I'm grateful for the conversations I've had with the Federation of Small Businesses, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed, and a range of trade unions, including the Trades Union Congress.

  • But I must be honest and point out that in devising this scheme in response to many calls for support, it is now much harder to justify the inconsistent contributions between people of different employment.

  • Status is if we all want to benefit equally from state support, we must all pay in equally in future.

  • These last 10 days have shaken our country and economy as never before.

  • In the last two weeks, we have put aside ideology and orthodoxy to mobilize the full power and resource is of the British state.

  • We have done so in the pursuit of a single goal.

  • To protect people's health and economic security by supporting public service is like the air in a chess backing businesses and protecting people's jobs and incomes.

  • What we have done will, I believe, stand as one of the most significant economic interventions at any point in the history of the British state on by any government anywhere in the world.

  • We have pledged that whatever the resources, the n hs needs it.

  • Who got promise to pay 80% of the wages of furloughed workers for three months up to £2500 differed more than £30 billion of tax payments until the end of the year, agreed nearly 17,000 time to pay arrangements for businesses and individuals.

  • Made available £333 billion of loans and guarantees, introduced cash grants of up to £25,000 for small business properties covered the cost of statutory sick pay for small and medium sized businesses for up to two weeks per employee.

  • Lifted the incomes of over four million households with a nearly £7 billion boost to our welfare system.

  • Agreed a three month mortgage holiday with lenders and nearly a £1,000,000,000 more support for renters through the local housing allowance.

  • And today we've announced one of the most generous self employed support schemes anywhere in the world.

  • Despite these extraordinary steps, there will be challenging times ahead.

  • We will not be able to protect every single job or save every single business.

  • But I am confident that the measures we have put in place will support millions of families, businesses and self employed people.

  • To get through this, get through it together and emerge on the other side both stronger and more united.

  • Thank you.

  • I think if we can take some questions from the media turning first too.

  • Laura Kuhns Berg from the BBC Thank you very much, Chancellor.

  • You said you hoped to cover nearly all of the self employed.

  • But what about people who this skin does not cover?

  • And when do you hope the money will start coming through.

  • And if I may, we've been really inundated with worries from people who feel they're not safe at work.

  • We had a message from someone saying their employer was forcing people.

  • They said.

  • Everyone knows it's wrong that we're being emotionally blackmailed by bosses, saying If we don't come to work, people will lose their jobs as the chancellor, Would you say to employers who are float, floating the rules like that and to the deputy CM Oh, if I may?

  • When do you now expect the peak of the virus to be from the most up to date information you have, Please, Thanks, Laura, to your first question at this scheme.

  • If you look at people who make the majority of their earnings from self employment, this scheme will cover 95% of them off the people that it does not cover that last 5%.

  • Those above the income threshold that we set their average incomes are about £200,000.

  • So we think what we have done is reasonable, proportionate and fair and, as I said, covers 95% of all self employed people who make the majority of their earnings from self employment.

  • S o I think it is.

  • It is a very generous scheme in that regard and treats them with the same parity that we did for employed in terms of the timing.

  • Our expectation is that this will be up and running by the beginning of June.

  • We will look to try and do it faster than that.

  • But I don't want to promise something that we can't deliver today.

  • As I've said before, this is operationally complicated.

  • We're already designing brand new schemes to cover the 90% of the population that are employed here.

  • We need to design another scheme on top of that, and we also want to give now four weeks for people who haven't filed their tax return yet from January on opportunity to do so to benefit from this scheme.

  • And I think that was a trade off that was worth making, giving people that little bit of extra time now those late filers.

  • But that does have a little bit of a knock on impact about when the scheme could be fully up and running on.

  • I'll turn toe to Jenny to answer your second question around workplace guidance on DDE and the virus timing.

  • So I think on the workplace guidance, it's really important that employers, most of whom have been extraordinarily supportive, I think of their employees stick to the normal principles of workplace health.

  • We've made it very clear.

  • I think, what those principles are of people can work from home.

  • They should be able to if they can't, they're maybe adaptations that they can do in the workplace on.

  • We've also made it clear what sorts of distances and practical measures can be made to ensure people are safe.

  • So in some ways, although we're being more specific about the public health requirements in the middle of this outbreak, actually the same principles about workplace safety apply on Dino.

  • The health and Safety executive were reminding workplaces off that today, earlier on the issue off the peak in the epidemic.

  • I'm sure you will not be surprised to know that I am not going to predict too precise timing for that.

  • And the reason for that is we are only just starting to see a bite, if you like.

  • In the interventions and social distancing that have been put into place, it would be far too early to predict that.

  • I think we are starting to see some helpful movement.

  • Let's put it that way.

  • And what we'll be looking for is a change in the slope rather than being a very steep curve.

  • Atwood's We will be looking for it to be a gentle slope, but we must not take off it off the pedal.

  • People have been really cooperative, and I think in the last few days that the public have really understood that this is something very serious and their actions, wherever they are, will save lives.

  • So too early to say yet.

  • But I think starting to move in the right direction thank you have to return next to Beth Rigby from Sky.

  • Thank you, Chancellor.

  • Question for you on your scheme.

  • A big scheme, but you can't get the money until June.

  • You're telling people that they can apply the universal credit, but there's a five week wait for the first payment.

  • Can you guarantee to people watch in this you are in immediate a desperate need that if they apply for universal credit that they will get an advanced payment in 10 days or less to tide them over on a question if I made the deputy CM.

  • Oh, how many N.

  • H.

  • S staff are currently unable to work because they are unwell or self isolate, and it's obviously an area of huge concern for everyone.

  • Thank you, Beth, to your question about people's immediate cash.

  • No needs to which, of course, were enormously sympathetic to We've done a couple of things with regard to universal credit first, making it just more accessible, particularly for those who are self employed on more generous in that regard overall, in terms of the measures I've already announced.

  • But in terms of speed, it is already the case on the department for Work and pensions are highly focused on this, that people can get an advance payment it almost immediately after the claim, so they do not have to wait for the five weeks in advance.

  • Payment can be given almost immediately, certainly within days.

  • That's very much what they are already doing.

  • On top of that, we have deployed extra resources into local authorities, particularly to help those who are most vulnerable with things like their council tax bill, which for many families is of a very large bill that they face every month as the local authorities.

  • Now we're in receipt of the extra money we've given them on bacon work in their own communities toe.

  • Identify those most vulnerable families that you talked about and ensure they get a little bit of extra help toe help tide through the difficult few weeks and months ahead s so I don't have the precise figure with me this afternoon in relation to energy is starting.

  • But I'm sure my own interest colleagues would do I think the important thing is Thio do recognize that there are a significant number of staff who are absolutely doing the right thing as the rest of the public are in taking themselves out of the workforce.

  • If they are symptomatic, I'm maintaining the safety for the rest of the public, but particularly the vulnerable patients.

  • And I think we have to recognize and support that the two things we have been doing to try and improve that as we go forward, that is the right thing to do.

  • But we can help everybody.

  • I think number one to be clear on what the workplace guidance is on.

  • There is some very helpful guidance through the N hs, but for particularly for people with in the vulnerable group, if you like, with underlying conditions.

  • I think some people have interpreted that if they're healthy and well but have an underlying condition as perhaps needing to stay right out of the workforce.

  • But for some of those people, it will be appropriate for them to work.

  • But on an individual discussion with the workplace on then, I think the other issue, obviously, is.

  • I know you'll be where we are trying to push forward on our testing program.

  • But right at the top of that list are the health care workers and our care workers more generally on different responders, for example, in police under the first line response systems.

  • And that's because we recognize that knowing whether people have had the disease or not brings people back into the workplace now.

  • But it also means we know what our resilience is going forward as we move into the depths ready of the epidemic.

  • So it's It's for all of us to do that, and that's what we're trying to do.

  • Thank you.

  • I can turn next to a Robert Peston for my TV.

  • Our ship.

  • Hello.

  • Afternoon, Robert.

  • Hello.

  • So my connection doesn't seem to have a stable, so I'll get it.

  • I'll give it a go.

  • So what about the many people who have only recently entered the workforce?

  • Might not have three years of accounts and not even one year of accounts?

  • How can they get help?

  • Secondly, how long do you expect this scheme to run for?

  • Do you have an estimated cost for the per month of the scheme?

  • On Finally, Did I hear you right that when we're through this, you intend to equalize tax and national insurance between employment and self employment, essentially as a sort of form of natural justice since their well being bailed out.

  • What?

  • All of us are being bailed out on the same basis.

  • And then finally for the deputy cm.

  • Oh, Chris, What he said yesterday, the big problem in terms of ramping up testing is a world shortage of the bits on the kits.

  • Why didn't we order the kits weeks ago when this first emerged as a problem?

  • Why did we wait till everybody else had ordered kids?

  • Robert, what was your first question exactly?

  • Cut out for a second Oh, so so the first question is significant.

  • Numbers of people have only entered the cell phone element workforce recently, and they have accounts, certainly won't have three year accounts.

  • They won't even have one year of accounts.

  • How are you gonna help there?

  • So what we will do is for those that don't have three years, we will look at whatever they do have, whether it's 12 or three.

  • But seeing as we're looking at trading profits apart, shit profits.

  • Obviously those can be volatile year to year.

  • So where people do have more than one year, we will look to average out over the years.

  • That was something that many people called for because it seemed the sensible thing to do to smooth out that volatility.

  • If people only have one year, we will be forced to only look at the one year for people who we don't know anything about that there is really nothing we can do.

  • And that's one of the complicated things we've been wrestling with.

  • We are.

  • I think most people accept that we have to use the database of people we know about and that have filed tax returns.

  • That's the population that we have that I talked to those that file tax returns in January 31st of this year A ll the late filers which will give four weeks to For those who are very recently self employed we do, we cannot operate a scheme like this.

  • There is just too much complexity, both operationally and fraud risk with that.

  • So we would have to say to those people, Please look at the extra support we've put into the welfare system to help you at this time.

  • But as I said, this covers the vast, vast majority off people in terms of the time frame for the scheme.

  • What we've said is analogous to the employed scheme.

  • We would do this for three months.

  • So obviously, if we are able to make payments to people at the beginning of June, they would receive three months payments at that one time backdated to march, completely comparable to the employed scheme on.

  • We're going to your question on tax.

  • I think the broader point I would make is rather than be too specific right now about future tax policy is just an observation that there is currently an inconsistency in contributions between self employed, unemployed and obviously the actions taken today, which is very significant tens of billions of pounds of support for those who are self employed, treating them the same way as those who are employed.

  • It does just throw into like that question of inconsistency on whether that is fair to everybody going forward, especially especially as we look when we get through this.

  • And we're all chipping in together to right the ship afterwards, making sure that everyone is doing that, but as well.

  • And I think that's a very fair and reasonable observation to make at this time.

  • I'll hand over to Jenny, thank you, have it in relation to testing.

  • So I think with all of these things, where they be testing or P P, we have ordered and we have planned ahead.

  • But I think what the public perhaps will recognize is that this is a brand new event.

  • It's a pandemic on every single country is ordering.

  • At the same time, many of the re agents and the items that he used are coming from some single suppose, but many from international suppliers, many of whom have actually been affected themselves by the pandemic.

  • So I think this is not an issue of a lack of forethought and planning.

  • It is an unprecedented event on, I think, if you are, the points which are worth while thinking about it is a brand new virus.

  • So even to understand how you might test it, you need to have the virus and understand a little bit about it before you can start on.

  • There is also a point which is really important whilst we're dealing with a Corona virus.

  • So colleagues in public kills England, for example, on a day to day basis, still need to manage all the other individual infections which are in the country, and some of those will be of higher significance of higher risk for individual people.

  • So it'd be wrong for us to be moving, for example, stock from our daily work into this.

  • I mean on a final point.

  • And I think chief medical officer made the point yesterday.

  • The evaluation of this is absolutely critical.

  • So we do have evaluations running now, and I recognize we all want to see these testing programs very active.

  • But it is vitally important that when we have a test, we know it does what we wanted to do.

  • Not that we have incorrect information.

  • Thank you.

  • Quitter next to Jason Groves from the Daily Mail.

  • Thanks, Chancellor.

  • Can I ask?

  • You said I think that this scheme will come into force in June.

  • What self employed people are supposed to live on until then?

  • You can also pick up Robert's point on the future tax treatment without getting into too much detail, which you always you don't do at this stage.

  • Is it fair to say that you're warning the self employed that they may well have to pay more tax in the future?

  • Uh, on a question for Jenny Harris and asked, What you There's millions always now cooped up in our houses.

  • Are you at all worried about the kind of health impacts of that we've seen kind of supermarket booze.

  • I'll spit bear.

  • Are you worried about the impact of mental health problems, obesity drink problems in this crisis?

  • Jason, to your first question on timing, I referred to what I've said previously.

  • You know, we've looked very hard at the quickest possible way to deliver this way.

  • We are already delivering a brand new system to deal with the employment scheme that we've set up, which covers 90% of the population that will be up and running by the end of April to ensure that those businesses could meet their payroll in April and use that scheme to pay their furloughed workers.

  • It is ultimately the same group of people, the same systems that need to do this so we can do some of it in parallel that some of it will have to be in sequence and come afterwards.

  • Also because we've taken the decision to allow people who are late in filing their tax returns in January, four weeks from today, the opportunity to file their tax returns and benefit from this scheme that also will have some impact on timing, which again, I think, is a reasonable and sensible trade off to make.

  • In the circumstances.

  • They will get three months in one go in June, which obviously will be welcome on.

  • As I said, we have made available multiple other avenues of support in the interim for this population off people very considerable investments both in the welfare system, through local councils, on other tax deferrals on DDE with regard to think again.

  • I'm not anticipating future policy.

  • I'm just making the observation that I think it is harder to sustain the argument that if you're employed and paying a higher rate of tax on the basis that you won't treat you differently.

  • And now we're treating everybody the same and at a very, very significant cost that we as a country and as a society as we get through this and altogether of figuring out once we get through this, how we how we then, right, the ship afterwards.

  • You know, this is an observation that I think is eminently fair to make.

  • Now, at this point on, then we can discuss in the future.

  • You know how best we will come together to get through this and set to right the ship and make sure that we get everything back on track again.

  • Thank you s Oh, yes.

  • I mean, I personally and many of my public health colleagues have made it very clear that we recognize that there are potential mental health risks as well that we need to be looking after our bodies undermines at the same time.

  • That particularly applies to our very high risk, vulnerable a group who we have asked to almost take themselves out of society for 12 weeks.

  • That's a really big ask Andi.

  • It's why, in the letters which have gone out to them, there are specific links and suggestions around mental health and mental health, welfare, linking with every mind matters, all sorts of links to do that.

  • But I might actually put two more optimistic view as well, which is, if people are not going out to work, and often that actually creates quite a stress in terms of travel time, they have more free time to themselves on.

  • It might be the best opportunity the whole country has to say.

  • I'm going to use my one exercise session every day to ensure that by the time this is over, I am super fit and so is my family on.

  • In fact, if you have something restricted, it suddenly becomes quite a pleasurable event.

  • So even though you may not have wished to job along the street before doing so, now might actually be quite quite a relief and quite a positive thing.

  • Krystle to do print.

  • Thank you.

  • Uh, George Parker from the ft.

  • Thank you, Chancellor.

  • You've made no secret all of the fact that scheme has been very difficult to design.

  • Would you accept that it's open to abuse for example, people claiming the money and then basically sitting at home?

  • And what would you say to people thinking off?

  • Potentially abusing the system?

  • The second on a number of meat?

  • Medium sized companies have been in touch with us to say that the Bank of England loan scheme isn't working for them because they don't happen.

  • Investment grade.

  • What can you do to help those companies in this so called squeezed middle?

  • And the quick question to the deputy C.

  • M.

  • O.

  • I don't think we've ever really had a public explanation of why this country decided to stop testing.

  • People was suffering with totems of Corona virus when every well, certainly the World Health Organization's advocating a policy and many other Asian countries have done this with great success.

  • George, thank you on on your first question.

  • First, about the scheme way are designing these things at pace as you write.

  • Identify.

  • I've given the circumstances.

  • I don't think we should let the perfect be the enemy of the good we accept that has some challenges.

  • That's why we've put some of the conditionality into the scheme to limit some of the risks that you identified, for example, making this for people who have an actual tax return that we can look at.

  • So we know that there are real people who are genuinely self employed and not just telling us out of the blue that they are.

  • That's kind of very obvious check.

  • There will be a form that people will have to fill in.

  • We will contact them because we can identify them ourselves, who we think should be eligible.

  • We will ask them to apply and check a few other boxes just to confirm to your point that they are still trading and some other things which we can then later verify as well.

  • So we will be able to actually put in place some sensible compliance measures in that regard to your to your second point.

  • That's a very excellent point.

  • Now we've obviously put in place a bunch of different loan guarantee schemes to provide credit corporate UK that there was an issue with the commercial paper facility that we had originally set up with the Bank of England and it wa ce for people who had an investment grade rating.

  • There are perfectly good private companies that are credit worthy but don't have that rating.

  • What we have done is work with the Bank of England to find a work around for that so that we can impute a credit rating from the company's individual relationships with their banks on in that way, construct a rating.

  • We think that work significantly increase the addressable number of companies that can now benefit from that scheme.

  • The details of that are imminently about to be published, and I thank the Bank of England for working with us constructively on that on what it will mean is that between the Corona virus business interruption loan scheme at the bottom end for companies up to £45 million of turnover on the commercial paper facility on the top end, we will now be covering 80% of UK employment and 80% of corporate UK turnover.

  • With those two schemes that still does leave a small 20% gap in the middle, we are finding ways to try and address that gap as well.

  • Obviously that's a little bit more challenging because by definition those companies are not as credit worthy and this is taxpayer money we're putting on the line.

  • So we need to make sure that there is some way that we are protected in that regard.

  • But I think now that we haven't improved commercial paper scheme, we've got 80% of employees and corporate revenue covered on there's a There's a small gap that we are actively working on to find some creative solutions for, So I think I'm just going to answer in two different sections.

  • So the 1st 1 about the W H O comments.

  • So I think the comment do you were picking up with Dr Ted Ross saying Test test test?

  • But in fact, we need to realize the clue for W.

  • H O is in its title is a World health Organization on DIT is addressing all countries across the world with entirely different health infrastructures on particularly public health infrastructures.

  • We have extremely well developed public health system in this country on in fact, our public health teams actually train and others abroad.

  • We have supported w H O through there, go on process, and some of our epidemiologists have gone out to middle of, for example, to support the early response in that area.

  • So the point there is that they are addressing every country, including low and middle income countries, so encouraging all countries to test off some type.

  • Um, when you come to the UK, we have made it very, very clear There has been a plan right the way through this which is entirely consistent with science and epidemiology.

  • We started with the containment phase and every early case of this disease was followed through.

  • Every contact was traced exactly as we would do for other diseases, but particularly noticing this one.

  • And of course, you're the views will be very familiar with the fact that we had some very strict and very successful containment facilities.

  • But there comes a point in a pandemic where that is not an appropriate intervention on that is the point, really, Where we moved, we moved into delay on although we still do do some contact tracing and testing, for example, in high risk areas like prisons or care homes, that is not an appropriate mechanism as we go forward.

  • At that point, what we need to do is focus on the clinical management of the patients first and foremost on then.

  • Additionally, as I've said earlier on our health on care star from first responders staff.

  • So obviously actually, if there was infinite testing facilities and we are growing them pace and we will have them, then it moves to the public.

  • But we need to be very careful about focusing where it's clinically most valuable.

  • Thank you.

  • On Dhe to Anna Mikel over from the telegraph Ana.

  • Sorry, we can't hear you.

  • Really Like what?

  • Yes, we can now, Chancellor, when you look at the U.

  • S.

  • Unemployment figures from today on the number of people claiming universal credit here doesn't make you concerned that the cure could be worse in the virus.

  • And secondly, the deputy CMO has previously suggested the lock down could continue on and off for six months.

  • Are you concerned that the economy could be destroyed by then?

  • At a quicker question for the deputy CMO public health England's had one million members of the public of going to be self sent self testing kits at home.

  • Who will these people be?

  • How will you choose them and what will happen to that test results.

  • And obviously I have seen the numbers both from the U.

  • S.

  • And indeed here.

  • And you know, of course, they're very, very worrying these air people's livelihoods, their jobs, their financial security which is now being severely damaged on very cognizant of that.

  • That's why we have acted, I think, at incredible speed, to put together a number of different packages of support to protect people's jobs and incomes and provide them with financial security.

  • What is going through what is going to be a very challenging a few weeks and months?

  • There's no two ways about that, but we are taking the advice from our medical and scientific advisors.

  • It is the right strategy where we make the right decisions at the right time to protect people's lives, but also control the spread of this virus to a level where we can cope with it, which then allows us from a position of strength to decide how best to manage things from that point forward.

  • But I absolutely acknowledge this is going to be challenging people's lives and economic livelihoods are gonna be impacted.

  • But I do believe the measures of support that we've put in place we'll make a new, enormous difference to helping to alleviate some of that hardship.

  • And I think to your Jenny, do you want it on?

  • I was going to pick up.

  • I think the point about lock down was it potentially is taken out of context in the sense that what I was saying was we may see measures off lock down going forward over the next six months.

  • That would not be a Nim plausible outcome.

  • But I also said, I think that as we're watching the curve, it may be possible.

  • Definitely not know, because we're only just starting to get some benefit from this.

  • But we may be possible to start moving out.

  • So the issue here is about exactly as we have done A ll The way through with this is about keeping watching the epidemiology on dhe, flexing those interventions at the right time in the right place to deliver what we need.

  • And obviously, I think the whole country and myself included Will will want to be back to normal as soon as we can, So I think that mentioning six month, it's to give a a general look forward about the sorts of length of this type of pandemic, but we have to remember also that we have.

  • If we are successful, we are lessening the spike on the curve, and we're pushing it forward.

  • So a sex success in some ways means pushing it forward, but not necessarily with the strengths and interventions that we have a moment all the way through.

  • So that would be the first point on dhe.

  • I don't precisely recognize the the quote that you were talking about in relation to public health, England, but I think there are two points.

  • Probably one is we will want to understand very quickly the way the disease has traveled around the country and through different elements of our population.

  • So it may be that that quote was in relation to, which will almost certainly go forward in due course, understanding with a proportionate sample of the population who has had the disease and who has not, and that will give us a strong clue as to when we know when the outbreak may end completely.

  • So it's about understanding through different age groups and different, vulnerable groups what has happened, which you cannot do consistently for absolutely everybody.

  • A whole population in the middle of an outbreak, but I think in relation to other testing and who gets it and who doesn't?

  • I think I've probably answered that with the earlier one.

  • The absolute point here is it is clinical benefit.

  • It is the people who are going into hospital into our intensive care units with acute respiratory distress syndrome and pneumonia the same into the wards and then those high risk areas and then on to our house care workers.

  • Thank you, Thank you.

  • We're out of time.

  • So just in conclusion, if I could say today was about providing reassurance to the millions of people who are self employed and and are anxious about their security and their livelihoods, I think by any international standard the package that we have outlined today represents one of most generous and comprehensive ways to support those in self employment anywhere in the world.

  • And I would conclude by saying this to all of those who were self employed, who were rightly anxious and worried about the next few months You haven't been forgotten.

  • We will not leave you behind.

  • And we are all in this together.

  • Thank you.

endemic with new support for the self employed.

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