Forced to decide between nursing mild cold and flu symptoms at home without earning anything or sucking it up, going out to work and paying the bills, self-employed workers face a stark yet not uncommon choice.
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, has urged people to work from home if they can, but many gig economy workers such as taxi and delivery drivers, cleaners and events staff who do not receive company sick pay are seeing their work drain away.
“The majority of our shifts have been cancelled,” said a 29-year-old woman who works for an events company in Birmingham. “I’m on a zero-hours contract, like many of my co-workers, and we are effectively out of work right now.
“Concerts, football matches, exhibitions, parades. These were our livelihoods and now they’re all gone. Our industry is dying and we have no certainty when it will revive and what state it will be in.”
She said events companies faced a perilous future: “Unless something is done we are soon going to struggle to pay our bills. It feels like the government has completely overlooked our situation and abandoned us.”
Symptoms are defined by the NHS as either:
- a high temperature - you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
- a new continuous cough - this means you've started coughing repeatedly
NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days.
If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.
After 14 days, anyone you live with who does not have symptoms can return to their normal routine. But, if anyone in your home gets symptoms, they should stay at home for 7 days from the day their symptoms start. Even if it means they're at home for longer than 14 days.
If you live with someone who is 70 or over, has a long-term condition, is pregnant or has a weakened immune system, try to find somewhere else for them to stay for 14 days.
If you have to stay at home together, try to keep away from each other as much as possible.
After 7 days, if you no longer have a high temperature you can return to your normal routine.
If you still have a high temperature, stay at home until your temperature returns to normal.
If you still have a cough after 7 days, but your temperature is normal, you do not need to continue staying at home. A cough can last for several weeks after the infection has gone.
Staying at home means you should:
- not go to work, school or public areas
- not use public transport or taxis
- not have visitors, such as friends and family, in your home
- not go out to buy food or collect medicine – order them by phone or online, or ask someone else to drop them off at your home
You can use your garden, if you have one. You can also leave the house to exercise – but stay at least 2 metres away from other people.
If you have symptoms of coronavirus, use the NHS 111 coronavirus service to find out what to do.
Source: NHS England on 23 March 2020
The 4.7 million gig economy workers in the UK have been told by the government to claim benefits, which can take five weeks to come through, if they need to self-isolate. However, this is not an option for those who live hand-to-mouth.
Uber drivers say they are having to stay out for longer since there is much less work because many people are not going out, and some do not trust the ride-hailing app’s pledge to provide 14-day support to anyone who self-isolates.
However, many are going out to work each day to hail the fares that they can find. “I’ll take a paracetamol if I have a temperature and pull myself up because I don’t have any other means of earning and this is my livelihood,” a 42-year-old driver in London said.
“This is not only me, but many others in the gig economy who will be doing the same. Who would pay me if I stay at home?”
But other private-hire drivers do not have this option. “My husband and myself are self-employed private-hire taxi drivers but we both have suppressed immune systems due to chemo and radiotherapy,” said a 65-year-old woman in Portsmouth.
“He has incurable lung cancer. He had his Pip stopped last May. I had breast cancer last year. We are choosing to stay at home, mainly for my husband’s protection. We’re OK for the minute but not if it goes on for too much longer. I don’t know what we’re going to do. We are entitled to nothing, and still have bills to pay.”
Elsewhere, with schools remaining open but some teachers self-isolating, demand for supply teachers remains.
“If I don’t work, I don’t get paid,” a 48-year-old supply teacher in north-east England said. “Asking us to self-isolate on the basis we may or may not be unwell is basically making us give up £1,000.”
Last week, the prime minister told those experiencing even mild symptoms to stay at home, but this was met with derision by some.
“We don’t get statutory sick pay [£94 a week] or anything, we’d have to go through the benefit system,” the teacher said. “I don’t expect my electricity supplier to be understanding.
“I would not want to spread coronavirus but asking people to self-isolate even if they’re not feeling particularly unwell is unrealistic. We need something similar to compensation for jury service.”
Others, such as sign-language interpreters who work in hospitals, GP surgeries and schools every day have no one checking up on their health since their work is contracted through agencies.
“The council used to do emergency planning, but that’s just gone all out the window,” said a freelance sign-language interpreter in London.
“I have had a virus for the past four weeks, I just keep sniffling. I have been to the doctors and they said it’s nothing to worry about and haven’t advised me to stay at home. They just said it’s been going round.”
However, despite the government’s latest advice, the 44-year-old mother of two young children says he has to put paying the bills over her health as demand for her services also shows no signs of abating.
“People would have been able to save and have a buffer before but its just not viable anymore, especially in London,” she said. “I can’t afford to not go to work. If I don’t go, I can’t get paid.”
