Government Coronavirus Update for self-employed individuals

The government announced help for self-employed individuals today:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-gives-support-to-millions-of-self-employed-individuals

We have been hoping that when the chancellor announced help for the self-employed, it would also cover company directors, the vast majority of which receive remuneration by a combination of salary and dividends.

However, it now seems unlikely that the directors will receive any further assistance after the chancellor stated:

Those who pay themselves a salary and dividends through their own company are not covered by the scheme but will be covered for their salary by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if they are operating PAYE schemes.

As the majority of directors currently receive just £719pm in salary, this means that they will only receive £575pm (80% of their usual salary) under the job retention scheme and they will receive nothing for their lost dividends.

It would have been fairer if the government let directors raise their salaries to £2.5k for a few months so they can receive the same assistance from the government as everybody else.

I will let you know if you there are any updates which may be of interest to companies/ directors.