Self Employed but have no work or income.

colinairey

I am self employed but haven't had any work for 5 months now. In that time i set up another company but it hasn't taken off, with no money coming in for that either.
For the last 5 months ive borrowed from family to keep myself afloat but its come to the point were i now need to find a employment.
I have looked into getting my HGV licence as transport is what ive been involved with for 20 years. But i need to find £2000 to take the 5 day test. I obviously haven't got this and have no way of borrowing it as ive got bad credit and i cannot lend anymore money from family.

I currently receive £54 working tax credit ..

Will i now be entitled to Job seekers allowance ? and if so, will i be able to receive funding to enable me to take the HGV test.

Any advice is appreciated

Thanks

Colin

karenx

You can get JSA if you are activly seeking full time employment. So if you have ceased trading on the companies you will have to tell tax credits and your working tax credits will stop.
I think they might help you out with the licence and you pay them back if you have a job acceptance that requires you to have the licence

DX2

So for the last five months you have been getting WTC and not actually been working?


Within one month, tell the Tax Credit Office if:

• you stop working – even if you’re self-employed
• you have been working at least 16 hours a week and your hours drop to less than 16
• you have been working at least 30 hours a week, you’re single and your hours drop to less than 30
• you have been working at least 30 hours a week, you’re in a couple with children and your total hours drop to less than 30
• you are on strike - and it's gone on for more than ten working days in a row

colinairey

So for the last five months you have been getting WTC and not actually been working?

I stopped getting work 5 months ago, i thought it wasnt going to be for long as i did everything to try and get my business back on track but I have yet to get anything.
I also set up another company in the hope that i could start making money with that but again nothing has happened, mainly due to the fact that i have no money to promote or advertise the business.

As far as telling the tax credits was concerned, i renewed my tax credits recently by giving them my self assessment details for the year 09/10.

I didn't tell them i had stopped working cause in my eyes i hadn't , ive been working night and day trying to get my businesses back on track , i just haven't been getting paid.

Ive not ever been in this position and really don't know how the system works, as you can probably tell.

Thanks

Colin

Hammyman

colinairey wrote: »

I have looked into getting my HGV licence as transport is what ive been involved with for 20 years. But i need to find £2000 to take the 5 day test.

Are you hell bent on making things worse? Take it from someone who has been in haulage 16 years - A HGV licence is the last thing anyone wants to be thinking of getting for the forseeable future whether they plan on driving their own or someone elses lorry. And you don't just need your licence now - you need to do the Driver CPC before anyone can employ you. In addition to that, you'll find that world+dog has a Class 2 licence (most people leaving the Army have one) so you'll find you need C+E which is going to be another £2k. So realistically including your medical, two tests, drivers CPC and a digital tacho card, think more on £5000 assuming you pass tests first time.

As well as being up against the "two years minimum experience", there are tens of thousands of highly experienced HGV drivers out of work due to the recession. And if you're thinking of running your own, there are mandatory funding requirements just to get an operators licence and everyone is paying bottom rate for jobs.

JIL

To qualify for JSA you will have to make a claim as a self employed person. They will then look to see if your business is still ongoing and will want to look at your accounts and also how many hours per week you are spending on your business and this will include, advertising, banking etc. If it is more than 16 hours per week you will not qualify for JSA. If you have ceased being self employed they will want to know if you have closed all the company accounts etc and what assets you have from the business and will want to see the accounts.
You have asked about help re a HGV license, to qualify you would have to receive JSA and would probably be required to have been unemployed for at least 6 months, although there are some exceptions to this. There were grants from the advisor discretionary fund but under the recent cutbacks these are few are far between. Again my best advice would be to contact your local JCP office who will have the best advice as well as to advise you on any other practical help, with regards to grants etc.

DanE2010

Sorry to pip in here, just to let you know that you are correct in what you say in regards to still being self employed, you have not stopped working you simply havent been able to make any money, for tax credit purposes the time you spend doing your books, drumming up buisness etc is still classed as your avergae weekly hours so you havent done anything incorrectly or fraudulent, your not sat on your backside (infact you appear to have tried extremly hard for the past 5 months to keep going and it is only now you have said you need to give up and seek employment not self employment) so the poster who pulled him up on that is incorrect. I dont think anyone should be slated for trying to stay off the dole and earn there own dosh! Call the tax credits helpline, visit the jobcentre and the citizens advice bureau and they can give you all the information you need and hopefully then you can make an informed decision on whats best for you and how to go forward. Good luck with it all and hope it all works out for you.

colinairey

Thank you for all your replies..

All ive tried to do is the right thing from the minute i stopped receiving any money.. I have never been on the dole in my life and to be honest the day i resigned myself to the fact that i was now going to have to sign on, was the lowest point ive hit in years ...
Its crazy to think that in order to get any funding you have to be on JSA for more than 6 months. I suppose i can thank all the down and outs that rape the system everyday for that one..

Thanks again

Colin

Oldernotwiser

colinairey wrote: »

I suppose i can thank all the down and outs that rape the system everyday for that one..

Thanks again

Colin

Oh well, that's my sympathy for you out the window!

colinairey

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Oh well, that's my sympathy for you out the window!

I think you will find that if there wasn't so many "down and outs" as i called them, rinsing the system by sitting on the back sides and not even trying to get a job, people like myself, who want to work, would probably get funding straight away, instead of having to take money off the government for 6 months to make me eligible.
Ive paid every penny of my taxes and National Insurance, since i left school 24 years ago, so excuse me for believing that i should be entitled to get help straight away instead of having to wait.