Martin Lewis: Nine things the Chancellor could tweak to help people through this: furlough, the vulnerable, childcare, self-employed, umbrella workers, limited companies & more

4. Commission is excluded from salespeople's furloughed salaries. Income for the furlough scheme is based on salary and overtime, but not bonuses and commissions. Those who work in sales often have income dominated by commission, and for them the furloughing system is broken.

To prevent many feeling the need to still drive up and down the country to earn more, the guidance could be changed to allow those with incomes dominated by commission to have it counted – subject of course to the usual £2,500/mth cap.

Update Tue 14 Apr: Possible good news – salespeople's commission may well be included in the furlough payment. The definition of salary is now filled out to 'regular, contractual pay' which includes basic wages, compulsory commission and past overtime. Yet it excludes discretionary commission (eg, tips), 'tronc' (a type of pay arrangement), bonuses and benefits in kind.  

So we're now hopeful that as most salespeople's commission is contractual, eg, that you get 10% of each sale, it's covered – though we're waiting for official confirmation. As for how much overtime/commission you get, again that's TBC, but normal furlough rules for variable income say it's the higher of the same month the prior year (eg, March to March) or the average over the 2018/19 tax year. Update and confirmation will go in How is furlough pay calculated?

5. Supply teachers, agency and umbrella workers need clarification. The guidance shows if they were on PAYE on 28 February they can be furloughed (the 80% for those with irregular income or salaries is based on the higher of the same month the prior year or their average monthly income over the 2019/20 tax year).

But this is a difficult area, as agencies think it's the underlying employer that pays, employers that it's the agency. We need more work done to clear this up and make it easier – even allowing a combination of records over a number of different employers to form a salary base.

6. Those on fixed-term contracts are left out in the cold. Many employees work based on fixed-term contracts, eg, six months' worth, which are regularly renewed, or the employees at least move to regular employment elsewhere. Therefore they are by definition economic victims of coronavirus.

However, many whose contracts are due to end during the furlough period are being told they can't be furloughed due to that, even though in the normal run of business they'd have contracts extended.

We need a system to support those for whom the job market is fluid, an explicit recommendation that it is OK for an existing employer to furlough someone beyond their original contract date.

7. Few who started self-employment in the last 18 months qualify for help. Under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, the state will pay 80% of average profits up to £2,500/mth (provided total annual profits are under £50,000). Unlike employees the self-employed can get this and continue to work.

Yet the average profit is based on earnings in the three tax years up to 5 April 2019. This leaves those who started a business after that in the lurch. In fact, even those who started part way through the year before that may fall foul as to qualify over 50% of annual income needs to be from self-employment.

The payout for this scheme will be a lump sum in June. So to help those missing out, as the tax year ends on Monday, the guidance could be changed to allow those who submit their provisional tax returns for the year ending 5 April 2020, by say, 5 May, to receive support.