Gary McElligott is a theatre promoter who lives in Great Wakering, Essex and works in an industry which is yet to restart.
The 60-year-old is sharing the mental anguish and impact of the pandemic on him, his wife and his business. Like many of the campaign group #ForgottenLtd, he’s not received any support from the Government which means he cannot pay his business bills, his mortgage or household bills.
Gary said: “A few months ago when the fridge freezer broke…we were at the top of the stairs sobbing our hearts out because we don’t know how we are going to pay to get it repaired – just stupid things like that. It’s killing us all. If they could give us the support that other people have had, not asking for any more, just so we can limp through this and get to the other side.”
Gary is a struggling #ForgottenLtd and one of two million small limited company directors who have yet to receive any meaningful financial support from Government, to help him and his family survive the pandemic. Many have already lost their businesses; some have lost their homes and the mental health toll on those left behind has been significant.
“Gary’s story is one we are hearing on a daily basis,” Gina Broadhurst, founder of #ForgottenLtd said. “The Government are fully aware of our plight; they are fully aware that tens of thousands of small limited companies have been on their knees for months. The Treasury are letting businesses go to the wall, and letting people lose their jobs. Some have borrowed government loans to stay afloat and, ten months on, those loans are gone and still there is no end in sight for the #ForgottenLtd. Government have the Director’s Income Support Scheme (DISS) proposal on their desks right now – they could alleviate this situation within days by implementing the DISS.”
London based documentary maker Ben Burnham filmed Gary during January 2021, to record how the lack of support is affecting Gary’s company, and to capture the mental health impact of falling through the gaps in Government support for 11 months. Ben is also a #ForgottenLtd whose business has been impacted by the pandemic.
Ben said: “I wanted to show the devastating impact on small business owners across the UK due to the pandemic. There are real people behind each of the businesses that Government is refusing to help financially because of their unjustified prejudice against the financial structure of a small limited company. These are people who are earning the same, and in many cases less, profit than their self-employed counterpart and who deserve the same financial support from a government who champions entrepreneurship and encourages self-employment in all its forms.”
This short film shows just one of those broken by the lack of Government action to help hundreds of thousands of taxpayers.
