#ThinkSelfEmployed urgent campaign

During the Coronavirus outbreak we have seen the Government announcing a raft of measures to support small businesses and their employees but we have still seen very little support provided for the 4.9 million self-employed.

These entrepreneurial strivers contribute over £275bn to the economy and we cannot afford to let them down as they face this unprecedented national emergency. FSB has been instrumental in pushing the Government for greater support for this growing number of workers.

We are hopefully close to getting this support but we need a final push to ensure that we get it! To this end, we are going to be repurposing our successful #ThinkSelfEmployed campaign to get the word out and get the Government to introduce measures that truly supports these people.

We want you to help with this by getting the message out this afternoon. In the same way we launched the original #ThinkSelfEmployed campaign, we want members, FSB staff, family members, whoever we can get to post a selfie, a video or an image (from home) with a message telling the Government that they need to #ThinkSelfEmployed and provide greater support. Don’t feel that you have to contact people directly, a call-out over social media is just as good! (Remember don’t use old graphics)

Here are some example tweets:

The Government has brought in measures to protect small businesses and their employees. They now need to #ThinkSelfEmployed and announce a package of support for these 4.9 million self-employed strivers!

The UK’s 4.9 million self-employed contribute more than £275bn to the economy and they support now more than ever. I am calling on the Government to #ThinkSelfEmployed and announce a package of measures that back these workers

I am one of the UK’s army of self-employed. I need the Government to #ThinkSelfEmployed and support me and all of the other 4.9 million self-employed!

If people want to post a selfie video, here are some tips on how they can do this:

Ø  Film in a quiet/soundproof room so the audio is of good quality with little background noise.

Ø  Place or balance your phone on a table/use a tripod so the video isn’t shaky.

Ø  Avoid back lighting, have the light source to the side of you or behind you.

Don’t forget to get people to include FSB’s handles as we will then be able to respond to engagement:

• Twitter: @FSB_Policy
• Facebook: Federation of Small Businesses
• Instagram: fsb_uk
• LinkedIn: Federation of Small Businesses

Also, feel free to suggest that people include the handle of their local MP so that the message gets to them as well!

We want people to start doing this straight away and the more people we get doing it the more people we will reach! We will be going out with a call-out from all our national channels this afternoon calling on people to join us in our call on Government to #ThinkSelfEmployed.

Please can you let your Regional and Area groups know that this is coming and to watch the National Policy Accounts, and then update them once it is launched.

We appreciate that we are moving quickly with this but in the current situation, we have to be agile to get the support our members need.

We really do appreciate everything you are doing to support our members and help us.