Self-Employed HB out of work - advice

amyg

My husband who is self employed has seen his work slowly decreasing over the past few months and with near enough no work coming in now we are panicking. He has been self employed for about 3/4 years now. We have a daughter who goes to nursery full time as we have both always worked full time. We have been advised he may or may not be entitled to JSA. Although got told by JobCentre only way to find out is for him to stop working and apply. But this will mean our TC drop and we will not receive any money towards my daughters £700 nursery fees. We were considering giving her 4 weeks notice at nursery first so we at least get help paying towards this but that means my husband doesn't declare himself out of work until my daughter is out of nursery which means he will have to care for her full time until she starts pre-school in September.
We're a bit worried as if he declares himself out of work TC will drop although he may not be entitled to any JSA as he has been self-employed, but is there anything else he may be entitled to? I earn £16k before pension etc and that is nowhere near enough to support all 3 of us. I am at a loss and any advice is much appreciated.

amyg

Can noone offer any advice as to what if anything we would be entitled to? or the best thing to do? obviously if we decide that he'll do better claiming unemployment then i will need to give 4 weeks notice to the nursery and wait until my daughter is out of nursery until we do this, as otherwise my TC will drop but i will still have another month of a bill to pay.

sylvia9121

Hi there

I cant really offer any help as such but I can tell you my story. My OH is also Self employed and work came to a standstill for him about 2 years ago. I had just had our 2nd baby and I was on Maternity leave, earning approx the same amount as you.

My OH went to the benefits office and they told him that they couldnt help him and that he was not entitled to anything as I was on 16k and that was enough. my monthly wages doesnt even cover 1 months mortgage let alone anything else! - mind you on a positive note - they did say that they would contribute to his NI stamps :rolleyes: :mad: (that was really our main priority at the time - NOT)

So i guess sorry to say but from our experience they were not willing to help in the slightest!

We thought that he would at least be able to claim something but it was not the case.

Hope this helps.

Sylvia

Oldernotwiser

amyg wrote: »

Can noone offer any advice as to what if anything we would be entitled to? or the best thing to do? obviously if we decide that he'll do better claiming unemployment then i will need to give 4 weeks notice to the nursery and wait until my daughter is out of nursery until we do this, as otherwise my TC will drop but i will still have another month of a bill to pay.

If your husband has been paying class 2 NICs then he won't be eligible for JSA contributions based and his eligibility for JSA means tested will depend on your income. For most people who are self employed with no work, the best advice is to try to get a job.

If not, is there a problem with your husband caring for your daughter? Is there any way he can fit what little work he has round your work hours? Also, have you looked at what effect this new situation will have on your WTC?

Slim4Summer

I checked out your post as I am in the same situation. I am self-employed and business is not going well and this month our mortgage payment bounced. We have no money to buy food never mind Christmas presents.

My husbands salary is not enough to cover all of our outlays ie mortgage council tax insurance etc.

The thing that makes me MAD is that up until 3 years ago I was a full time employee in one of the professions earning a huge salary and paying enormous amounts of tax and nat ins. eg in my last year I paid 17K tax. Then I set up my own business and we have been living off savings while I got the business going, but now they are gone and I have never been so stressed and terrified.

It doesnt seem fair that I am entitled to NOTHING after many many years of contributing a huge amount of money to the govt coffers. My husband and I both studied for many years to get qualifications incurring debts along the way then for the next 17 years worked and continue to work hard - and have less than nothing to show for it.