Newly Self Employed and Housing Benefit Advice

mark1991

Hi,
Could someone please help me with the following problem?.

On Monday 12th April I signed off JSA and became Self Employed.

I needed to continue my claim for housing & council tax benefit but it's been suspended until I can provide proof of income.
How is that possible? I've been self employed for less than a week.
I'm not actually earning anything at the moment
I also haven't received the 4 week rent run on my advisor at the job center said I would.

I did ring the council office to see what proof they needed and the woman I spoke to kept repeating that I needed invoices, sales receipts, bank statements and a whole list of other paperwork that I don't have and won't have because I'm a graphic designer.
When I asked her about my 4 week rent run on she said that because my claim was suspended she could only tell me that my rent is paid up until 18th April.

The only income I have at the moment is
Child Tax Credits & Child Benefit for one child, approx £70 combined.

I've been awarded a £50 per week self employment credit payment from the jobcenter for the next 16 weeks, I've been told this can't be regarded as income.

I should also be eligible for £88 Working Tax Credit - this is being processed.

Based on this what proof should I forward to the council?

Thanks for any help, much appreciated!

fluffymovie

You may have gotten someone who is a bit new or who doesn't deal with s/e claims.

I have answered a similar query recently so if you search on my posts, there should be some advice on there.

The basic answer is that we usually ask for a projection of your first 13 weeks income and then review at 13 weeks, 26 weeks and then a year.

With regards to your 4 week run on, this can be awarded if you have been a relevant benefit for 26 weeks or more and you have signed off to start work that is likely to last 5 weeks or more. If the council haven't awarded this, you need to ask them to do so. What they have done is suspend to get your new income details but you dont even have to claim after the end of the 4 weeks and so they should award this anyway and not suspend.

We can only suspend a claim if we believe that there is likely to be an overpayment so in your case, perhaps the council haven't considered your 4 week run on. The whole point of it is to help the transition into work.

mark1991

Thanks fluffymovie, very helpful.

I rang the council again and asked why I'd been suspended since I know I'm definitely entitled to the 4 week run on.
She said my claim has been suspended to prevent an overpayment, and that *if* I'm entitled to the 4 week run on it will be paid WHEN I've provided satisfactory proof of income
.. does that sound right?

fluffymovie

No, that isnt' right!

You could qualify for the extended payment and never provide income details!

The regulations do not say that you have to provide income details. It is up to you if you wish to continue to claim.

I would speak to a team leader and put your point across again!

Here is some guidance from our circular

There is no longer any requirement for Jobcentre Plus to confirm to the LA that the 26 week qualifying period has been fulfilled. It is the responsibility of the LA to check all of the qualifying conditions. LAs should use the CIS to access relevant dialogues to check eligibility. Again, if there is any doubt whether the claimant satisfies the 26 week qualifying condition, you may wish to double-check with Jobcentre Plus.

The LA should treat the move into work by the claimant/partner as a normal change of circumstances. The LA should check for entitlement to
• an EP, and
• In-work HB/CTB
5.151 There is no longer a requirement to end the current HB/CTB claim if there is entitlement to an EP. If there is such an entitlement, the EP rate becomes payable on the existing HB/CTB claim, with In-work HB/CTB taking over once the EP period has ended, but see Cases with no entitlement to In-work HB/CTB later in this chapter.

If there is no entitlement to In-work HB/CTB following cessation of the qualifying income-related benefit, but there is entitlement to an EP, the existing HB/CTB claim can continue so that the EP can be paid. This avoids the need to end the current HB/CTB claim in order to enable the EP to be paid.

mossy

Hi, is there anyway you could get into your council office and 'wait in line' as it were to speak to someone face to face?

Hubbie and I are both self employed and we were struggling so decided to claim housing benefit. Like you it's difficult to prove income although obviously we had been working for that year. The person I dealt with (admittedly after a long wait) asked me to work out what we'd earn't so far that year and divide it into a weekly figure which we did. We've just moved to a smaller house (cheaper rent) so we've filled out a new form and have confirmed our tax return income figures for last year.

You may have just got an unhelpful person on the phone or like fluffy says a newbie. I really think face to face can be helpful and stop you going round in circles.

The income details you can provide are your tax credit awards notice, they'll want to see the original not a copy.

Hope you manage to get it sorted, it's a horrible situation to be in. I hope they take the estimated s/e figures that you provide and that the tax credit peeps work out your wtc award quickly. They are pretty quick to pay once they've sorted it, so keep checking your bank account.

tinktinktinkerbell

we had to show the council our letter saying how much tax credits we were getting and we had to tell the how much we would be paying ourselves

how long were you on JSA for cause you have to be on it for a certain length of time to qualify for the 4 weeks rent thing

mark1991

fluffymovie - thanks again for taking the time to help. I will stand my ground and let them know I know my rights!

Mossy - thanks for the support and encouragement.
I think you might be right with the face to face thing - It actually takes me longer to get them on the phone than it would if I jumped in the car and went to see them.

tinktinktinkerbell - I was on JSA for 7 months. I'm still waiting for my tax credits to be processed so no paperwork for that at the moment

At the risk of sounding stupid :cool: what should a "13 week prediction" look like? - would it be a simple letter saying
I think I'll earn '£ this much' but
I'll need '£ this much ' for 'list of expenses'

mossy

Yeah I guess it would be an estimate of your actual income.

So what you hope to earn less what it will cost to run would be the figure I'd give.

If you could work out a rough idea and figure for each of the above. Then you could take that in with you and ask them about it. At least that way you've got some figures with you dependant on what they say that want to know.

Good luck!!

mark1991

Just wanted to post an update in case someone else finds themselves in a similar situation.

I sent proof of income to the council in the form of a short letter listing my only current income (WTC, CTC, CB) and my predicted earnings from self employment for the next 3 months.

I received my decision notice letter this morning (took about 3 wks to process) and I've been awarded the 4 weeks rent run on (which I knew I was entitled to) and rent paid in full.

I can finally relax for a few weeks and concentrate on my business. Hopefully I'll earn enough one day to get myself out of the benefits system eventually.

Thank again for the help and advice.