stuck in a rut and don't know what to do

Ian_Gambit

good morning, I wonder if someone can help with a bit of advice, firstly a bit of back story, I live with my wife and son and am self employed, we get all the usual stuff (WTC, CTC, CB) and housing benefit and council tax credit.

Until 3 months ago I was mostly working for a company, but 3 months ago the company changed hands and the new owners didn't want to outsource work to subcontractors, so my work dried up (they've since mismanaged the business so much it went bust, but that's another story).

anyway, for the last 3 months I haven't earn 1p and we've been living on the tax credits, that's ok, we live within our means, but it's getting tight, last month my wife, who hasn't worked (or claimed benefits) since our son was born was signed off by our doctor on medical grounds and told in no uncertain terms to claim ESA, she did and was refused because her NI wasn't up to date (well it wouldn't be would it), people that dealt with ESA were horrible tbh. We think they delibrately processed the claim in the wrong type (should have been income linked ESA instead of contribution ESA).

So, and here's the killer, I have huge debts from being self employed, which are managed, but now we literally have no income I'm wondering if it's possible to claim income support or something similar while still being self employed, or should I just go the whole hog, throw in the towl and sign on - I would get a job but there are none around here, everywhere is closing and 95% of our neighbours are on JSA.

Anybody been in a similar situation? My plan is to goto the CAB and see what they say but I thought I'd post here first incase someone else has been in a similar situation.

Thanks

karenx

No you wont qualify for income support as you dont meet the criteria.
If you were to sign on for JSA you would have to close your business down and be activly seeking other employment.

Sam____2

No you wouldn't qualify for income support as your not a single parent or carer, but you could claim JSA if your working less than 16 hours a week. You don't have to close down your business, just inform them when you get work and they will adjust your claim accordingly or let you know if you no longer qualify if you start earning too much, Just keep them up to date with your situation work wise.

Yasha

Sam's completely right - youll be a lot better off this way-its how me and my family get by. We have two kids and my husband is a self employed actor and sometimes theres very quiet times and they get pretty scary when the bills come in! But we're claiming 'couple claim JSA' and we get all the other stuff too. It just gets changed accordingly when work comes in. If something comes along that lasts longer than 5 weeks then theres the run on payments to help with rent and council tax too and when the employment ends as its usually contract work, then we do a rapid reclaim. good luck!

Jowo_2

Post your debt problems on the Debt free wannabee board and the members there will advise you how to deal with them.

Ian_Gambit

Hi, thanks for the replies, just one question, wouldn't going for JSA mean the removal of the Working Tax Credits?

DanE2010

yep you cant claim JSA and WTC at the same time (for obvious reasons!) you need to be working at least 16hpw for at least 4 consequtive weeks to qualify for WTC, so you either stay on WTC or decided to end your WTC claim and make a claim for JSA.

Duncombe

DanE2010 wrote: »

yep you cant claim JSA and WTC at the same time (for obvious reasons!) you need to be working at least 16hpw for at least 4 consequtive weeks to qualify for WTC, so you either stay on WTC or decided to end your WTC claim and make a claim for JSA.

But if you're not working at the moment....you can't/shouldn't be claiming WTC. Again, for fairly obvious reasons.

DanE2010

there are certain rules for self employed people in regards to being in buisness, you can still be self employed with a buisness and not making money

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ntcmanual/eligibility_remuneration/ntc0340200.htm