esa question, please help!!!

keibear

Hi, im a 26yr old mother of two who lives in a morgaged house and is in the process of starting up my own company.
I put in a claim for esa in feb and have had nothing but problems and still received no money.
The issue appears to be with my self employment, i am in the early days of the company and spend my days doing paper work that is leagally required to start up a domiciliary healthcare company. I get paid nothing and cant see that paid work will start for a good few months yet. I spend around 16 to 25 hrs per week working on the paper work.
I have been told that my claim was disallowed due to the number of hours per week i work?
I have a history of illness hence the esa claim, and being at home doing paper work is about as much as i can do. I have two children, a morgage, office rent, bills, nursery costs and no income at all apart from my tax credits which dont cover much and i am getting deeper and deeper in dept as every day goes by,

I would be grateful for any comments you may have.

many thanks,

krisskross

What was your income source prior to claiming ESA| Were you working?

How old are the children? You may be able to get IS as a lone parent.

dmg24

IS is not available to those working more than sixteen hours. ESA is only available to those currently unable to work. OP, you need to claim tax credits.

keibear

hi, thanks for your input, i currently claim tax credits for my 1yr old and 6 yr old girls, i have got a appointment at the docstor today as my depression is worsening due to my financial situation, im now in a visious cycle where i want to work because im so skint but am not able as im at such a low eb and spend most of my time in tears just feeling sorry for myself. so im hoping that now i may be able to claim esa as im not putting any hours into my business.

karenx

You say you have childcare costs? When on ESA and not working you wont get any help with these with childcare element of tax credits.

tigerlily

Sorry to sound harsh but ESA is for people who cannot work due to sickness not a buffer for people who are starting a business. I am presuming that the 6 yr old is in school so it would just be the 1 yr old you have during the day? If so why the need for nursery costs?? If the business is as fledgling as you say why the need for renting an office? An family friend runs a care agency such as yours sounds like and has done so for the last 10 years, all from home.