Low income & self employed

BryanS1958

Hi

My nephew is a 21 year old self-employed tiler on approximately £6,000 a year, which is not enough to live on after paying rent, etc. He has no wife/partner/dependents. Is he eligible for any benefits or other assistance?

Would it make any difference if he was employed, not self-employed?

Many thanks.

Jowo_2

He can check his benefit entitlements on an online benefits calculator such as the one on the Turn2us website.

Does he live with family members or in rental accommodation, on his own or sharing with others? How much is his rent?

BryanS1958

He lives in private accom, houseshare and pays about £100 a week rent,then he has travel, etc on top so he is always going o/d! I had a quick look on Turn2us, seemed to say no entitlement, but I don't see how somebody is supposed to survive in London on £6k a year!

Oldernotwiser

He might be able to claim help for his rent through LHA. It might also be beneficial to do a part time job until he builds up his reputation and client list as a self employed person.

Jowo_2

Out of curiosity, I had a look on the job centre site for the going rate for ceramic tilers in the London area and it's generally around £10 to 12.50 an hour for a 45 to 50 hour week (£450 to £625 per week). That's 23k to 32k per annum, though granted that many of them are temporary in nature so there will be void periods between contracts and granted there weren't many vacancies (expect a lot of these are gained by word of mouth or advertised in newspapers).

Any particular reason why your nephew is only managing to earn around 20 to 25% of this?

Is this because he doesn't work for another contractor on big commercial or domestic jobs but finds jobs directly with members of the public for domestic work so it's quite piecemeal?

Could he find a permanent role Mon to Fri and manage a self-employed position at the weekend or evenings?

Because essentially if he is not eligible for any benefits and he cannot reduce his expenses (for example, by moving back home or finding a cheaper place to live), then his absolutely only other option is to increase his income.

It's perhaps worth finding another benefits calculator to double check his eligibility for LHA (local housing allowance).