Julie Convy isn’t someone who thinks Chancellor Rishi Sunak is ‘dishy’ – far from it.

She thinks he and the government have abandoned her and her husband, leaving them ‘emotionally and financially devastated.’

In fact they say they have run up debts of nearly £20,000 and face an uncertain future because of the way they have been excluded from government financial help.

They are members of Excluded UK – a campaign group that estimates around 3 million people in Britain have 'fallen through the cracks' of the Government’s Covid support schemes.

And despite a campaign supported by hundreds of MPs and an active group of 29,000 members, they have failed to get the Government to change course and provide the sort of financial support that other workers have received to see them through the pandemic employment crisis.

Julie’s husband, Gerard, has the unusual job of being a physical coach and mentor to top racing drivers across the world.

But to do that job the company who use him insisted he set up as a Limited company, and made himself a director.

And that’s where the problems started when lockdown came in last February.

With motor-racing screeching to a halt, Gerard’s Stourbridge-based business, RIG Fitness, had no races to go to, but Government rules around his one-man limited company and the way he paid himself meant he could not call on financial support.

That changed in November, when he finally became eligible for help, but even then that 80% applies to only a part of his normal income, not his whole salary.

Julie, a part-time hairdresser, did get government help but the couple soon faced the worry that ‘we would not be able to keep the roof over our heads.’

In the last 12 months Gerard has been given two government grants worth a total of £3,600.

Otherwise the couple have been leant money by a family member and have also taken out a loan, which is adding to their financial stress because they aren’t certain how they can pay it back.

“We have been paying tax for 38 years only to be completely abandoned.

“There are lots of people affected, not only directors of limited companies but freelances, people who took out pensions, people who had two jobs, new starter businesses.

“People in the entertainment and events sectors have been badly hit."

Excluded UK, has been campaigning since the first lockdown, and has won the support of money expert Marin Lewis.

The issue has been raised 1,000 times in Parliament, but Julie says she is getting no support from her local MP while the government is adamant it cannot help and has already done enough.

The couple, both 54 from Norton, had hoped that ‘something would change’ in the latest Budget and the Chancellor might finally heed the appeals to help the Excluded. She was left disappointed, though not surprised.

“Rishi and Boris won’t even acknowledge us.”

If you need support or want to find out more about the Excluded, search for Excluded UK on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.