JSA and childminding/self employed, can anyone help?

crazyhazy

I'm wondering if anyone is able to give me any advice. I was made redundant at the end of feb and had been receiving JSA while waiting on my childminding registration. I started cm on the 13th april and had been under the impression cos I only had one part timer, 15.5hrs a week that I was still entitled to sign on.

Well that's partly true I can still sign on but at the job centre today I was told that apart from £5 they will take any other income off my JSA, basically meaning I will be worse off each week. I am currently only earning £55pw and that's before any expenses. The person in the job centre didn't seem to think it mattered that I had expenses but I was wondering if anyone here had any experience of a similar situation? Surely they should only take my actual net income into account rather than what I receive?

As it stands just now I'll only get £5pw more than when I was just signing on JSA and with the expenses of toddler groups, resources, snacks etc I'm going to be worse off working

Thanks in advance x

Amistoso_2

surley the parents of the children you are minding are responsible for those expenses? what they have told you is correct though, you are allowed to keep the first £5 and the rest is deducted from your JSA, can't you work an extra half hour and claim tax credits?

Jowo_2

Are you set up as a sole trader? Will this mean that the valid business expenses that you incur form part of the tax return? In other words, the expenses are between you and the taxman rather than you and the job centre?

I don't know how it works for a child minding role for those on benefits, but in my experience of running a business (a limited one), I had to keep receipts for my valid expenses and this was deducted off my company's tax bill.

Is there perhaps a forum or website out there that advises Child Minders on how to operate their business, the records required, tax advice and so forth?

crazyhazy

Thanks, the going rate for childminders here is £3.50 an hour including snacks and activities so I can't ask parents to pay the extra really. When it comes to the end of the tax year I will obviously be submitting a self assessment and my expenses will be taken into account there it's just the job centre that don't seem interested in the fact that the money I get isn't a wage as such.

I already claim tax credits, will be contacting them to update them about the reduction in JSA but I doubt the increase will make up the difference. When I've done the calculators online it doesn't seem to matter what hours I work, income I get we aren;t entitled to working tax credits, only the child part. Can only assume this is due to my hs salary.

froo_gal

Hello crazyhazy,

I have been childminding for seven years but have no personal experience with signing on for JSA at the same time.

Do you have children of your own?

If you do you should sign off and claim working tax credits instead, providing your net profit as your income figure (after taking away allowable expenses)

You may only be minding for 15.5 hrs but you are working more than 16 hrs when you take into consideration EYFS paperwork, such as planning, observations as well as book keeping and other required documentation - for my 3 mindees, all of whom are part-timers, this easily amounts to an extra hour on my working day after children have gone home.

jen_br

3.50 per hour???? that seems really low to me!

Indie_Kid

crazyhazy wrote: »

When I've done the calculators online it doesn't seem to matter what hours I work, income I get we aren;t entitled to working tax credits, only the child part. Can only assume this is due to my hs salary.

You need to work 16 hours (if you're responsible for a child) to get working tax credits.

crazyhazy

Thanks again, I assume the working tax credits also depend on your joint income, I know we weren;t entitled to them previously when i worked 27 then 18 hours per week. No matter what figures I put into the calculators for myself, really low incomes for high hours etc it still says we're not entitled.

£3.50ph is the going rate here, it's not loads but once I have more than one child to mind it will obviously be better.

von

There are special rules for calculating the self employed earnings of childminders -

To calculate a child minder’s normal weekly earnings the Decision Maker should

1. determine the assessment period in the normal way and
2. calculate the gross receipts for that period and
3. calculate the chargeable income as one third of the gross receipts during the
assessment period1 but make no deductions for business expenses and
4. calculate a deduction for

4.1 income tax and
4.2 SS contributions and
4.3 half of any premium for a personal pension scheme and
5. deduct any disregard.

Example

Fleur is a S/E child minder who is in receipt of IS. Her assessment period is 13
weeks. The gross receipts for that period are £1,280.
The DM determines

1. that no expenses should be deducted from the gross receipts and
2. that the chargeable income is £426.67 (1/3 of £1,280) and
3. the income tax, SS contributions and premiums that are to be deducted from

the chargeable income.

CazzR10

Tax credits and jobseakers alright for some ??

crazyhazy

von - have you copied that info from somewhere? Am going to go and talk to someone tmrw and see if I can get to the bottom of it so would be useful if I could print it off, thanks

CazzR10 - alright for some? Hardly when I'm currently struggling to work out how I'm going to pay my bills! I am currently out of work due to being made redundant, hardly a choice I made, I am desperately trying to start my own business cos there are no job opportunities where I am. People like you should crawl back under the stone you came from.