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Free debt advice provider, PayPlan, has launched a new enhanced Business and Self-Employed Debt Advice Team for people who are self-employed, or run their own business, and need help with debt.

With the current economic climate impacting almost five million self-employed people and six million small businesses across the UK, there has never been a more important time to have specialist financial support in place to help people to protect their livelihoods.

This new team sees PayPlan increase capacity in its self-employed team and redeploy accountancy experts and Insolvency Practitioners to provide sound business advice. The company can now offer an additional level of support for freelancers, those in the gig-economy, with buy-to-let properties and people with small businesses – whether they are a sole trader, limited company or partner.

PayPlan already provides free debt advice to more than 10,000 people each month who have become overwhelmed with unmanageable debts. The upcoming phasing out of furlough, dwindling government grants and normal expenses resuming has seen PayPlan increase its capacity to help people who work for themselves and are worrying about how they will cope with lockdown coming to an end.

Rachel Duffey, CEO of PayPlan, said: “At PayPlan, we’ve recognised the need to increase our capacity in the right places to help people who work for themselves and have unmanageable debts.

We have invested in training to increase the size and skill set of our current self-employed debt advice team and created an entirely new level of support within our usual service which specialises in business debt advice. This new Business and Self-Employed Debt Advice Team has also involved redeploying colleagues with accountancy expertise within PayPlan, who would otherwise have seen their workload dramatically reduce, as part of our adaptable business strategy.

We don’t yet know exactly how lockdown will end, but even the strongest businesses are likely to experience a slow return back to previous trading levels. For many, this period will be at least as tough to survive as lockdown is now.”

Business and Self-Employed Debt Advice Team

The new team advises businesses on informal solutions – like restructuring, cashflow, performance reviews and monitoring, corporate exit and time to pay arrangements.

Where suitable, PayPlan can also advise business owners on formal solutions such as a Company Voluntary Arrangement, Administration, Creditors Voluntary Liquidation or Compulsory Winding Up.

With PayPlan’s help, business directors can:

  • Minimise personal liability
  • Continue to trade, where there is a viable business
  • Help to separate trading creditors from the rest – ringfencing those you can repay at a lower rate and prioritise those that are vital to the business

If a business is not viable over the longer term, it is equally as important to close it down in a way which minimises the negative consequences. Business owners often have personal liability for business debts and obligations and extracting themselves from these can be challenging. In these cases, PayPlan will use its extensive experience of personal debt resolution alongside support for the business.

Visit PayPlan’s dedicated self-employed section for more information on the services or to get free debt help today, fill out our self-employed debt help form.