Are we allowed to go to work self employed?

spencerrothchild

theoretica said:

Where, physically, did she work?  'Hairdressers, barbers, beauty and nail salons, including piercing and tattoo parlours' need to have their premises closed: 

Nope she did beauty treatments at clients own home

she specialised in young mums who couldn’t go to beauty salon because of baby or child, and they prefer staying in their PJs and having the beauty salon come to them

but now my wife definitely can’t work at all

Comms69

spencerrothchild said:

There is no clarity 

It’s like the government are covering their backs

they say stay home but still go to work if you can

what the hell is the official direction 

What from home if you can*

General_Grant

spencerrothchild said:

There is no clarity 

It’s like the government are covering their backs

they say stay home but still go to work if you can

what the hell is the official direction 

The government is saying
Work from Home if you can
but
you can go to work if you can't work from home.
as long as your workplace doesn't fall into one of the closed categories.

spencerrothchild

It’s possible for my wife to work from home but this would put our family at risk having clients come to our home

macman

The 'work from home if you can' is intended to apply to people in employment-not to the self employed who work on client's premises. 
If her work did not involved close contact (i.e if she was a plumber) then yes, she could continue working. But beauty treatments, like hairdressing, are a no-no! This applies whether they come to you or she goes to them: contact is unavoidable.
Assuming she has submitted her tax return for 18/19, she will be entitled to apply for SEISS, which will launch in mid-May for payment in June. She can also apply for UC, if she qualifies. She can of course do other work that enables social distancing to be maintained.

Andy_L

Unless the client (or family member) is shielding then your wife can go into their house to do work.
"Work carried out in people’s homes, for example by tradespeople carrying out repairs and maintenance, can continue, provided that the tradesperson is well and has no symptoms. "

The PHE guidelines say you should "make every effort to " or "where possible" maintain the 2m spacing - obviously it isn't in her case so she would have to undertake mitigation measures (eg masks, gloves etc)

General_Grant

spencerrothchild said:

It’s possible for my wife to work from home but this would put our family at risk having clients come to our home

so you think her work isn't in one of the closed categories?

spencerrothchild

Andy_L said:

Unless the client (or family member) is shielding then your wife can go into their house to do work.
"Work carried out in people’s homes, for example by tradespeople carrying out repairs and maintenance, can continue, provided that the tradesperson is well and has no symptoms. "

The PHE guidelines say you should "make every effort to " or "where possible" maintain the 2m spacing - obviously it isn't in her case so she would have to undertake mitigation measures (eg masks, gloves etc)

All very well but customers don’t want her to

the crisis has ended so many businesses 

Dox

spencerrothchild said:

There is no clarity 

It’s like the government are covering their backs

they say stay home but still go to work if you can

what the hell is the official direction 

No, they don't say 'stay home but still go to work if you can'. If you take the time to read the guidance, instead of sounding off here, you may go to work if you cannot work from home. Common sense dictates that your wife cannot observe social distancing if she is giving a beauty treatment, so what more do you need?

Undervalued

Dox said:

spencerrothchild said:

There is no clarity 

It’s like the government are covering their backs

they say stay home but still go to work if you can

what the hell is the official direction 

No, they don't say 'stay home but still go to work if you can'. If you take the time to read the guidance, instead of sounding off here, you may go to work if you cannot work from home. Common sense dictates that your wife cannot observe social distancing if she is giving a beauty treatment, so what more do you need?

Absolutely.

However the OP has since said....

All very well but customers don’t want her to
the crisis has ended so many businesses 

So it is a total Catch 22