A debt charity has said it was unable to help around half of all self-employed people who contacted it because they did not have enough income. According to the Press Association, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) said over 6,500 people had contacted its Self Employed Centre for help so far this year.
However, the charity was unable to help half of them find a way out of their financial problems as they couldn't afford the repayment plan.
In some cases, it said people were not bringing in enough just to meet their essential living costs, let alone repay their debts.
The charity said: "A large proportion of those contacting us worked in service industries, where they were employed as hairdressers, gardeners or taxi drivers."
The group said only around 1,600 of the self-employed people who had contacted it had enough money left over after meeting their essential living costs to go on a debt management plan, under
Geoff Waugh, head of the CCCS Self Employed Centre, said: "The economic difficulties of the past few years have meant that a lot of people are carrying out work that they would have previously paid other people to do. This has left many self-employed people without work and unable to maintain their debt commitments. The personal finances of the self-employed are often complicated, with little distinction between their personal and business finances."
