Company director and benefits

Lincourt

Hi , I hope someone here can give me some answers.

I am currently unemployed and claiming JSA and Housing benefit, in the new year myself and a friend are planning to start working for ourselves( we are decorators) and registering with companies house as a limited company. Does anyone know what effect this will have on the benefits that i am receiving. I will stop claiming once the company starts trading and there is an income but i am worried that by being registered as a director i will lose my benefits in the mean time. Any help or advice would be gratefully received.
Thank you.
Colin

[Deleted User]

why not just become partners once the business is up and running?registering as a ltd.co. with companies house seems abit too involved for a decorating business???Unless things have changed going back 12 years my wife and mil traded as partners in a £250k a year business without becoming directors of a ltd company and they did that for 4 years.

von

If you are working 16 hours per week or more you are not entitled to claim JSA.

kingfisherblue

I am a director for a charity and limited company. I am also on income support and carer's allowance. The difference between myself and the OP is that I do not receive any money as a director. All the Job Centre required was a letter from the Chairman to confirm that I do not receive any monetary benefits and that the post is completely voluntary.

[Deleted User]

kingfisherblue wrote: »

I am a director for a charity and limited company. I am also on income support and carer's allowance. The difference between myself and the OP is that I do not receive any money as a director. All the Job Centre required was a letter from the Chairman to confirm that I do not receive any monetary benefits and that the post is completely voluntary.

That only applies if you would not normally be expected to be paid for the work you do,if you work for a limited company that is not a charity you would normally be paid for such work and should be treated as though you are for benefit purposes.

dookar

Lincourt wrote: »

Hi , I hope someone here can give me some answers.

I am currently unemployed and claiming JSA and Housing benefit, in the new year myself and a friend are planning to start working for ourselves( we are decorators) and registering with companies house as a limited company. Does anyone know what effect this will have on the benefits that i am receiving. I will stop claiming once the company starts trading and there is an income but i am worried that by being registered as a director i will lose my benefits in the mean time. Any help or advice would be gratefully received.
Thank you.
Colin

You won't lose benefit purely because of being a director. However, the number of hours you spend on your self employment will be important.

The 'remunerative work' rule is that anyone working for 16 hours or more per week who is paid, would expect to be paid or could reasonably be expected to be paid is in remunerative work and so not available for employment (a fundemental condition of entitlement to JSA)

Although you may not receive money for anything you do before you actually start 'working' the prep type stuff could still be considered to be something you expect to be paid for.