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A GLASGOW-based business owner has expressed relief at government plans to financially help the self-employed but remains concerned about the June timescale.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced yesterday (Thursday) that 95 per cent of self-employed people would benefit from 80 per cent of profits, up to £2,500 a month, to help them cope with the Coronavirus crisis.

Funding is expected to be made available from June but there is concern about the three-month wait.

READ MORE: Grant funding available to help businesses during Covid-19​

Mairi Damer who runs Word UP Communication, said: "I am still trying to digest it all but I think this is a good offer. I am pleased as it was what I was hoping for.This will be great for me and will help long term but it is a long time to wait for financial aid.

"I am concerned that some businesses will get into even more debt as a result of this. For me it is doable but for a lot of people it won't be."

The announcement comes after the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Scotland, launched a campaign for more support for the self-employed who feel they have missed out of a raft of government business support packages. Ms Damer is just one of the self-employed citizens backing it.

She explained: “I want the system to treat us fairly. It is really important the government don't forget us. There is an army of us in this situation and the main source of our income has been cancelled as a result of Coronavirus.”

Glasgow alone has almost 30,000 self-employed people, the largest number in Scotland meaning more than one in ten in Glasgow’s workforce are self-employed.

Official statistics also show that there are more than 320,000 self-employed people in Scotland.

READ MORE: Home care to be suspended for 1600 people in Glasgow in coronavirus crisis​

Hisashi Kuboyama, development manager - West of Scotland Federation of Small Businesses, said: “One of the key issues for self-employed people is to be included in these support packages.

“That’s why we launched our campaign #thinkselfemployed on Monday to try and encourage equal treatment of all workers. We just hope the measures go far enough.”