NEARLY 15,000 of Oxford’s self-employed workers are waiting to see if they will get government support through the coronavirus crisis, figures suggest.

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced that the Treasury is “determined to find a way to support” those who work for themselves.

But there has been pressing calls from the self-employed for decisions to be made quickly as they wait in limbo.

Office for National Statistics figures show an estimated 14,100 people aged 16 or over in Oxford were classed as their own bosses in the year to September – 16.1 per cent of all those who work.

That’s slightly higher than the rate across the UK as a whole, where self-employed workers made up 15.2% of those in employment.

The figures are taken from the Annual Population Survey, which asks sample populations across the UK to classify their employment status.

Almost 5 million workers were thought to be self-employed across the UK in the year to September based on the surveys.

Mr Sunak recently announced measures to cover 80 per cent of salaries of staff who are kept on by their employers who have had to close, or are losing money and cannot pay their staff, because of Covid-19.But there have been increasing calls to extend similar help to self-employed workers.

The Chancellor is expected to unveil new measures today.