My name’s Ginny Taylor and I’m a freelance translator. I specialise in medical, pharmaceutical, technical and general translations and revisions from French and German into English.
I joined Community, as I felt that there was nobody listening to the voices of the self-employed. It appears that the government only decided to offer SEISS to some categories of self-employed people after an awful lot of campaigning by various bodies (Community, IPSE, FSB that I can think of among others) and peer pressure from campaigning organisations, such as 38 Degrees. I would like to see the current SEISS scheme extended until at least the end of the year, with some form of provision (preferably backdated) for self-employed company directors of limited companies and the newly self-employed.
As a freelancer, you have the flexibility and option of choosing when and whether to work, but you also have to have resilience to find the work. There is really no normal day. In my case, I’m not just a translator, I’m also the Marketing, Book-keeping, Accounting, Sales, PR & IT department. Self-employed people have a wide variety of skills in addition to their actual profession. Having worked for 20 years in a variety of different office roles within various industries, I love working for myself and setting my own agenda and dealing with the challenges that can arise. I feel that the government has neglected and failed to support a very diverse and vibrant community of talented individuals who all contribute to the economy.
I am hoping that membership of Community will provide me with the support of belonging to a Union and a community, should I need to access this in the future. I am looking forward to being part of a movement that makes the voices of the self-employed heard.
If you are a member of Community and need help or advice, please contact us at help@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.
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