Category - COVID-19

I originally published this article in 2010 during the last recession, when people had been finding the blog on search terms along the lines of “can I go bankrupt as an ADI”, and “can I become an ADI if I’m bankrupt”. I updated it in March 2020 when the Covid Pandemic started as a result of a sudden spike in interest – I have changed that part to italics in the post below (it is still valid but no longer current).

Bankruptcy is a legal process involving a person or business which is unable to repay outstanding debts. So, in short, if you can’t pay your bills then yes, you can easily become bankrupt as an ADI. If you are relying on self-employment to earn money the responsibility for success (and failure) lies entirely with you.

Technically, bankruptcy is intended to help both the debtor and the creditors. It takes away the debtor’s debts, and attempts to recoup at least some of the creditors’ outstanding money. However, by having been declared bankrupt, the debtor may find that life is harder in future. They will find it extremely hard to get any sort of credit, for example, and even opening a bank account might prove troublesome.

Unfortunately, it is usually the debtor who comes off worse. In the case of driving instructors, their business probably has very few assets with which to offset their debts (no buildings, factories, machinery, etc.) apart from their car. However, if they own a house, that is worth much more and might be at risk if things go that far.

There is no barrier to being self-employed (which 99.9% of ADIs are) whilst bankrupt, but you can’t be a director of a limited company. As a sole trader you won’t have any trouble though – but make sure you fulfil your duties to HMRC (the taxman) in accordance with your bankruptcy terms. Read up on this carefully.

For prospective ADIs, I would doubt that previous or current bankruptcy would affect your chances of being accepted on to the register of ADIs. In some cases, if your bankruptcy was a result of unscrupulous or even criminal activities, then it might. It is whether you are a fit and proper person that counts, and only DVSA can decide on that. I can’t tell you, and certainly none of the comedians on social media can, though they’ll have a fine old time trying to. However, being a declared bankrupt seriously affects your credit rating, and you may run into issues sourcing a car or even being able to sign up to a franchise (I’ve already mentioned the likely difficulty opening a bank account if you don’t already have one).

The short answer is yes, you can be an ADI if you are bankrupt – but it isn’t definite, and there may be other obstacles to contend with.

Now we come to the present situation. Once again, no one can tell you what is going to happen – there are still idiots claiming that this is ‘just flu’ and saying it will all blow over. To anyone who isn’t still swinging through trees and eating bananas as a career, though, it is clearly very serious, and there is every likelihood it will last for some time.

Most ADIs will be extremely concerned, and worrying how they are going to manage.

The most important thing is not to sit back and do nothing. You need to contact your creditors – whoever they are – and ask for help and advice. Do that as soon as possible. Remember that they are fully aware of the situation, and contrary to what those swinging through the trees will tell you on social media they are not trying to destroy you or your business. Frankly, and I’m thinking well ahead now, if any do refuse to help, just plan for when all this does end so that you can sue them into oblivion (or at least have the satisfaction of telling people what they were like on social media and review sites)!

Every conversation you have will be different. Don’t be confrontational, and work to a mutually acceptable payment plan. If you can do that, you’ll stave off bankruptcy. It’s when you can’t pay anything at all that the likelihood of it happening increases. Propose a suggested payment scheme, and bear in mind that they all know what the situation is right now and will probably surprise you with how accommodating they are. So don’t panic.

Another option is to use a debt management company, who can handle all of this for you. Ignore people on social media who tell you to avoid them – this is bankruptcy we’re talking about, which is never to be taken lightly, and you need all the help you can get. When I lost my previous job all those years ago I had a lot of debts (almost £30,000), and it was such a company who got me through it without declaring bankruptcy (and this is just the one I used, so there are others you could consider). It is also worth nothing that at the time, my credit rating was almost zero, whereas now it is as high as it could possibly be. You can survive, and you can recover. But not if you listen to people on social media. Remember that the clue is the word ‘social’ – you’ll be getting a collective opinion, most of which is wrong in the first place.

A word for the future. Being self-employed is always high-risk when situations like this arise. It’s not just when epidemics, the like of which no one has ever experienced before come along, but personal illness and injury. The cash flow can stop in an instant, putting your home and other assets at risk.

I survived the Pandemic, but many didn’t and gave up instructing. I’ve written about this elsewhere, but far too many instructors assume that every penny of their lesson fee is theirs once they take fuel costs off it. It isn’t. For every £25 an ADI takes (assuming a 30 lesson week), probably only around half of that is his once his business overheads are covered. And then, about 20% of what’s left belongs to the tax man. But far too many spend that £25 as if it’s all theirs.

In future – if you can – save. Don’t spend.

I’ve not written about Covid in a while, though I have had to deal with many situations involving it in working as an ADI.

I’ve explained previously, but I am carer to my two elderly parents, both of whom have age-related health issues which put them in the ‘extremely vulnerable’ group as far as Covid is concerned. I make it absolutely clear to all my pupils that they must tell me if they test positive, and I explain clearly why. And all of them have done so.

Two weeks ago, a pupil who is pregnant got it. So we cancelled for ten days. Although it may not be related (though evidence suggests it could be), she is now suffering from pre-eclampsia and has been in and out of hospital with high blood pressure and the other symptoms. I hope it works out for her and her baby.

But that is an aside. I got a text from a pupil this morning cancelling her lesson tomorrow because she has just tested positive for Covid. I also got a message from another pupil – who is a work colleague of/referral from the first – cancelling her next lesson on Saturday (she also had one Sunday and Monday, as her test is coming up).

I casually texted back that her friend had tested positive, and would she do a LFT before our Sunday lesson, and she came back with ‘yes, I know. She caught it off me’!

The penny didn’t immediately drop, since she told me she was back at work tomorrow (Thursday). But once it did drop, I asked her when she tested positive herself. Saturday – less than five days ago! And she has symptoms – she’s all croaky – and yet her employer (she’s a teaching assistant) wants her back tomorrow.

The NHS says the following:

If you have COVID-19, you can pass on the virus to other people for up to 10 days from when your infection starts…

You should:

• try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days
• avoiding meeting people at higher risk from COVID-19 for 10 days, especially if their immune system means they’re at higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19, even if they’ve had a COVID-19 vaccine

This starts from the day after you did the test.

I spoke with her this evening and she fully accepts the need to suspend lessons for the 10-day quarantine period.

But I cannot believe her employer wants her back while she is still unwell.

There is going to be a fifth SEISS grant. A couple of weeks ago, HMRC sent out an email explaining how it would work this time.

Bear in mind that the SEISS is not – absolutely not – just for driving instructors. That important distinction makes how you interpret the email rather important.

The email makes it clear that the fifth SEISS will be granted depending on how much your 2020/21 turnover has reduced compared to previously. It also makes it crystal clear that you do not have to have submitted a return for 2020/21 (not due until the end of January 2022 at the latest) in order to make a claim.

It states clearly that your 2020/21 turnover needs to have been reduced compared to previous years in order to be eligible for the grant. If you haven’t yet submitted your 2020/21 return, an honest estimate is acceptable, and HMRC will determine how much you get based on the difference between 20201/21 and the previous year(s). Just be aware that your ‘honest estimate’ for 2020/21 is inevitably going to be what you eventually do submit, so be careful if lying comes naturally to you.

HMRC website makes it clear that if you are down by 30% or more, you will get 80% of three months’ trading profits (maximum £7,500), and if you’re down by less than 30% then it will be 30% of three months’ trading profits (maximum £2,850). This is because – as I mentioned – the SEISS is not just for driving instructors. It’s for plumbers, electricians, cleaners, nail bar owners, and all kinds of other self-employed people, etc., as well as instructors. Some of those will have legitimately traded while, ADIs ought not to have been.

I am confident that having only worked for about six weeks at a very reduced rate last summer, I will be eligible for the higher award. My turnover was down by more than 90%. However, if I’d pretended everyone was a ‘key worker’ and crammed in a lot of work I really shouldn’t have been doing last year (whilst claiming ‘hoax’, and boasting about not wearing a mask), then I’d have been at the lower rate – if I was eligible at all. If anyone out there did that, then I wish them well in their dilemma over what to do next – and I’d love to be a fly on the wall watching them complete their 2020/21 self assessment.

But for me, I have no such dilemma. My reduced workload is absolutely transparent. I typically do around 1,100 hours of lesson in a year, but in 2020/21 it was down to about 70 hours – a 95% reduction. And all as a result of following advice, taking this seriously, and not trying to be a smart ass.

All was going well. Then, last Monday, a pupil texted me to say he’d had to go into isolation because someone had tested positive at work. He actually had COVID last year. Then, the following day, I gave a lesson to a pupil who had been to watch one of the Euro 2021 matches at a pub with work colleagues (in spite of my warnings about the risk). He tested negative for the next three days, then last Friday informed me he was now positive.

I shit myself, and have been frantically doing lateral flow tests everyday since. He is unwell with it, and he’s now informed me his missus is also COVID positive.

Then, last Saturday I turned up to a lesson and the pupil didn’t come out as he usually does. I texted, and he immediately replied he’d just found out a family member was positive, and the whole family had to isolate. The same day, another pupil who I was planning on visiting to help with her theory test texted me to say she’s had to cancel the test because her year has been sent into isolation at school because someone tested positive.

Then, yesterday, a pupil who had a lesson booked for tomorrow texted me to tell me he’s tested positive. He questioned why I said next week’s lesson would be off, too (he didn’t have a clue about quarantine periods, and the timeline prognosis if symptoms develop). Also, the first pupil contacted me to inform me that his last day of quarantine is the same day of his driving test this coming week (which was a moved test anyway, since he had COVID last year when it was originally scheduled for), so we’ve had to cancel it again, and unless we find another cancellation somewhere, he’ll have to do his theory test again, because the nearest dates are the end of December.

And finally, I turned up for a lesson today. I’d just stopped outside the house when the phone rang, and he told me he’d been pinged by the NHS app and had to isolate (and he had another lesson tomorrow). Yet more confusion, because he said it’s ‘two days’, and apart from the fact I wasn’t aware of anything under ten days being a quarantine period, there’s no way he’s getting in my car unless I’m sure he’s negative.

And to add insult to injury, two more cancelled lessons for today claiming feeling unwell. Funny how the nice weather does that to people (it always has done, so I’m wise to it) – but now I can’t take the chance and pick them up over it, any more than I can moan at them not telling me sooner (though the two who did that say they’d only just found out).

So the old diary has taken a beating for the next week.

Recently, I mentioned that when the face mask rules were due to be scrapped on 19 July, I hadn’t yet decided how I was likely to proceed.

Since writing that, I did decide how I was going to proceed based on one of my pupils coming down with COVID, and three others having to isolate, all in the space of a few days. I have been making it clear to all of mine that I will still expect them to wear face masks.

On my last lesson today, after relating all this to a pupil, I explained that me wearing a mask gives him at least a very small amount of extra protection if I am carrying the virus, and him wearing one gives me the same small amount of extra protection if he is. And any extra protection is better than none at all. He wholeheartedly agreed, as have all the others – even the one whose mother is a complete nutjob anti-vaxxer.

But when I got home and checked the latest news, I saw that face masks will still be advised in indoor settings and enclosed spaces in a U-turn by the government.

There are quite a few driving instructors out there who are as intelligent as a Gumby, and who have spent the whole of the last 15 months or so assuming the pose in the picture above and boasting that they’re working during lockdown, not wearing masks, not asking pupils to wear masks, and doing bad sums along the lines of half an orange plus three quarters of a lemon is equal to six onions (because they saw it on a nutjob channel on YouTube or Facebook and liked the sound of it). The previous news that face mask rules would be lifted provided them with an opportunity to go all Gumby, and tell everyone pointlessly yet again that they’d never worn them.

So I guess they will still continue to break the rules and show how unprofessional (and stupid) they are.

The same Gumbys are also on a rant right now about how car parks at many DVSA test centres have alternate bays coned off as part of social distancing measures. Does that mean cars can catch COVID, they ask, as they push the warped agenda they’ve tried to disseminate for the last year.

The spacing is so that those getting into and out of the cars remain distanced from each other. You have to be really stupid not to realise that. But as I say, these are driving instructors with issues we’re dealing with.

It was announced today that from 16 August, those who have had both COVID vaccinations will not have to isolate if they come into contact with an infected person.

I notice that social media is still fairly overflowing with flat-earthers in the allegedly ‘professional’ ADI community proudly trumpeting that they’ve never worn a mask, and nor have any of their pupils, so the change in rules in a couple of weeks about masks won’t affect them. In case you forgot, let me just remind you what I’ve said before. That they are complete twats.

I wonder how these same specimens will do – due to their similarly stupid conspiracist views about the vaccines and whether COVID even exists – if they subsequently are supposed to isolate after 16 August? If they don’t, they’ll be breaking the Law, and if they insist on bigging themselves up on social media every five minutes (as is their wont), the Registrar might take a very dim view of their status on the Register. Frankly, if they did fall foul of that, my feelings would be along the lines of ‘serves you right, and good riddance’. After all, they are almost certainly a part of the reason all of this has gone on quite as long as it has (they’ve helped spread it, for a start).

Strong evidence is mounting that the vaccines are preventing deaths. Last year, with three noticeable spikes in infections, the death rate increased approximately 3-4 weeks later. That was when we had no vaccines. However, during this latest spike in infections, the level at which an increase in deaths subsequently occurred last year was surpassed right at the start of June. And death rates have not risen significantly at all after five weeks (fingers crossed they don’t, even though today’s figure is a little worrying). The only difference is the vaccine.

As for masks, I find it incredible that there are still people out there who believe the mask protects the wearer. It doesn’t, and never has. The mask is for the benefit of others.

I haven’t decided yet how I am going to deal with masks when the requirement for them ends in a couple of weeks. I am doubly-vaccinated and careful, of course. However, my pupils collectively (on average) go to school and go out and get pissed whenever they feel like it. Some of them have flat earth mothers who ‘don’t believe in’ the virus, or who are anti-vax/zero knowledge. So the risk to me is still there. I might decide that I still need protecting from them – it depends on how the numbers go over the next fortnight.

One asked me today what I would do. I explained what I just said, and she agreed. And another one later also fully understood. Any who don’t can find another instructor.

Phew! That was a relief. I was worried I might not get the fourth SEISS because my 2019/20 profits were down as a result of the start of the pandemic, and it was touch and go as to whether my self-employment income amounted to more than my private pension. Fortunately, it did.

I went through the claim just after midnight, and I’ll be getting a windfall of £3,000 – which will help enormously as I gradually build back up to a decent number of hours.

It’s funny, that. I started work on the first day the lockdown was eased, but I specifically spaced lessons out so that I’d have time to sanitise the car, and kept one day free for taking the weekly Asda delivery (though I’ve started going back in over the last fortnight, and will return to a normal shopping at some stage). I didn’t try to fill each day, and if one or two were empty, no big deal. I also spaced lessons out so I could take it easy starting up again, because I knew that after a year out it might be tiring.

As it happens, it hasn’t been. It’s been fun, and I hadn’t forgotten anything. The only problem was finding out what new roads had appeared since I last went out, and which ones had either disappeared or now have roadworks on them (and Nottingham City Council decided that many roadworks should start on the same day everyone went back to work, as is their wont). But I did see that those who had tried to fill their diaries to the brim from Day One have been complaining about not enjoying it anymore (and thinking of retiring or staying in their lockdown jobs), being stressed, and being exhausted.

You only have yourselves to blame. You can’t expect to be able to run a marathon, for example, if it’s a year since you last did any jogging.