Self Employed - now unemployed. Any entitlements??

bubsblooms

My husband was a self employed carpenter. He was always a sub contractor rather than having his own business. In October 2008 he was made unemployed and has had no work since.

I am a nurse - now working full time and earning approx £28K per annum. We have 2 children aged 4 and 6 and own our own home. Our 4 year old goes to nursery 2 x week.

It seems we are entitled to no help at all from any direction - according to our council, the job centre and tax credits. Is this true??? To say we are struggling is an understatement _pale_

Any advice would be great....

minnie123

Hi i'm no expert and i'm sure they will be along soon but can your husband claim job seekers allowance?

Fire_Fox

Your husband is not entitled to CB-JSA as he was self-employed, I am guessing he is not entitled to IB-JSA as your household income is too high. Is your husband still signing on to get his stamp paid and also to be registered as officially unemployed? Probably not entitled to council tax benefit for the same reason. Have you been told if you will be entitled to Support for Mortage Interest at the three month point or is your family income too high? I think you can only get that if your husband has been signing on, even if not actually receiving any money IYSWIM.

Without meaning to pry or sound stupid what exactly are you struggling with? Are you managing to pay your mortgage, council tax and food (all classed as priority outgoings)? Do you have debts? If so get in touch with one of the debt charities such as CCCS or Payplan, go onto the Debt-free Wannabe board and use one of the template letters to offer token payments of £1 a month to your creditors.

Did you really mean he has not worked since 2008?? Is your husband looking or work outside his trade, even part-time bar or shop work? Has he advertised in shop windows to do odd jobs of carpentry in people's homes?

bubsblooms

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Your husband is not entitled to CB-JSA as he was self-employed, I am guessing he is not entitled to IB-JSA as your household income is too high. Is your husband still signing on to get his stamp paid and also to be registered as officially unemployed? Probably not entitled to council tax benefit for the same reason. Have you been told if you will be entitled to Support for Mortage Interest at the three month point or is your family income too high? I think you can only get that if your husband has been signing on, even if not actually receiving any money IYSWIM.

Without meaning to pry or sound stupid what exactly are you struggling with? Are you managing to pay your mortgage, council tax and food (all classed as priority outgoings)? Do you have debts? If so get in touch with one of the debt charities such as CCCS or Payplan, go onto the Debt-free Wannabe board and use one of the template letters to offer token payments of £1 a month to your creditors.

Thanks for the info.
My husband hasn't been signing on as was told not to right at the start. He was told that he could come back in 24 months if still in the same boat!! He has had some work - odds and ends and a seasonal job at Tescos but nothing else. Because I am a nurse and work shifts (day and night) and have a non school age child he has to be a househusband. That makes work harder but with no childcare support it is a non essential outgoing. Vicious circle!
We have only one loan which is still being paid on time each month and we have not defaulted on the mortgage. Food costs are cut to a minimum but we are getting by and utilities are all paid monthly. There is £0 left at the end of the month and if we have a bill I have to do more shifts to cover it....
I just thought we might be able to get child tax credit or something (I had hoped I was misinformed) as it seems a gross total household income of £28k isn't exactly flush to be too much to get anything

I am struggling in the sense that I have to work as much as physically available to simply pay the bills and to feed the family. We never go out, never buy clothes, have absolutely no money - and while that may not sound bad as bills are being paid etc - it is no life at all. I have worked since age 18, my husband since 17. Neither has ever been unemployed or ever needed to claim a single penny before. I never realised you cannot get help at all when you need it.

Tobiwan_Kenobi

You should be entitled to Child Tax Credits - Have you claimed? It may not be much but it should be something. You should ask about Working Tax Credit too.

From your husband's perspective, he should have claimed JSA from the start. Whilst he won't receive a cash payment, he will be receiving NI payments whilst signing and will be able to participate in schemes and training the Jobcentre may have running.

karenx

OP earns too much to get working tax credits, should get the basic element of child tax credits though