“We welcome the much anticipated measures announced today to support the self-employed during the coronavirus crisis. We have had numerous inquiries from self-employed Tide members over the last few weeks who are very concerned about their future and this will be good news for them.

“The timing is concerning though, waiting until June to receive 80% of their usual profits and relying on universal credit (which could take 5 weeks to come through) in the meantime will leave many self-employed people vulnerable.

"We understand the complexity of the system, but worry that this delay could have a devastating impact on our self-employed community. A faster way of delivering this support could be to secure certification for the amount people are entitled to through financial institutions, that have the necessary data at their fingertips. Additionally, given the time it will take to implement this scheme, there needs to be a rapid opening up of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to provide a bridge between now and June."