An award-winning musician from Perthshire has urged the government to act quicker to help the self-employed as he faces the prospect of having no income for months.
Callum Wallace, from Scone, gigs as part of the Music in Hospitals and Care Scotland network, as well as a solo musician and in the Tay Ceilidh Band and is classed as self-employed.
The musician saw all his upcoming gigs cancelled within the space of a few days and could go three months without money coming in following the chancellor’s announcement on Thursday.
He believes many musicians around the country will be left in the same situation.
Callum said: “We’re self-employed. It’s a nightmare and it’s the same for the whole industry.
“I’m at home now with my wife and two kids and we really need to government to step up really quickly and help us in some way.
“The time that it has taken to get this in place is no good.
“It will come good but for a lot of people the payments need to come quicker.
“It’s great that they’re helping the self-employed but at the same time I’m disappointed it’s going to be June.
“That will mean I’m not working from around mid March and that will be right through until June.
“To wait three months with no income is a long long time.
“The payments will be coming through when people are hoping to be back working.”
Callum suggested that the government could have provided a lump sum to begin with while they processed payments.
The musician saw all his income dry up within days last week.
He said: “I was half way through a three day tour up in Aberdeenshire when I got the call on Thursday.
“From there it’s just been a knock-on effect. The whole work just went, from a good income to zero.
“We’ve gone from one extreme to the other.
“I was working most days, now they’ve all been cancelled.”
As well as working in hospitals and care homes across the country Callum normally gigs at various well know hotels in Perthshire.
He said: “I’m a solo musician as well. I work with The Salutation Hotel (in Perth), I’ve got work with the Crieff Hydro where I’ve been for 34 years since I was 11 and Fisher’s in Pitlochry.
“They were all my regular gigs and they’ve all been cancelled”.
