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started working now we are left with nothing

hiya everybody i'm just looking for some advice.....

i am a single mum of 2, age 1 and 6 years and i was claiming income support, child tax credit and child benefit
i had a work focused interview and spoke to the advisor about going self employed and doing avon and maybe abit of selling on ebay.
anyway she went on to tell me how better off i would be to sign off and start up self employed.
after the interview i contacted avon who sent a rep round to sign me up and everything.
the day after i went back to the job centre and spoke to the adviser, i wanted to start first before stopping my current claims but was told they no longer let people do that but i would be able to get self employment credit of £50 per week for the first 16 week and the working tax credit will be sorted within a week so i agreed to sign off income support.
she helped me fill in the self employment credit form and said i need to register as self employed and inform tax credit i am now working which i did the same day (2nd december) and they said i would get a new award within 10 days.
now its the 23rd december we have had no tax credit and no self employment credit...i have spoken to tax credit helpline a number of times and they have now told me my claim has been sent to head office but they wont give me a reason why...ive been to the job centre and been told self employment credit takes 4 week to process.
its 2 days before xmas and i am skint the foods not going to last another day and my gas and electric are on emergency and theres no way i can afford even 1 gift each for my children..... i really dont know what to do next i wish i would of stayed on benefits now.
i tryed asking for a hardship payment at tax credit local office but was refused as i dont get benefits anymore.
i dont know what to do now its all one big mess
does anyone know what i can do to get some sort of payment till all this is sorted? after today we are going to have nothing left to live on there must be some sort of help out there
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Comments

  • GlasweJen
    GlasweJen Posts: 7,451 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    You need to work 16 hours a week to get working tax credits, do you spend this much time on avon every week?
  • yes the first 2 week was fine but since ive not done exactley 16 hours due to all this with money not coming in and messing around at job centre and tax office then housing benefit.....but i would like to do the 16 hours its all this thats holding me back
  • merlin68
    merlin68 Posts: 2,405 Forumite
    You should still be recieving your child benefit.
  • i do get child benefit and its due a week on tuesday
  • merlin68
    merlin68 Posts: 2,405 Forumite
    I don't see how your going to make any money selling Avon. None of the Avon ladies I know do they just do as a hobby and to meet people.
  • This sounds like a stressful position to be in, hope you're doing okay. What about a crisis loan, I think you could be eligible if you have no other income and are awaiting a first payment of benefits ( I might have misread your post though, and I'm no expert on these things!). There's information on DWP website, it might be worth a look.

    Also, I'm not sure how it works but I know a lot of our local churches do give small gifts to families that are struggling, it might be worth approaching them and explaining your situation even if they are able to help with a gift for the children it might help.
  • mummy232 wrote: »
    yes the first 2 week was fine but since ive not done exactley 16 hours due to all this with money not coming in and messing around at job centre and tax office then housing benefit.....but i would like to do the 16 hours its all this thats holding me back

    Are you sure you will do 16 hours a week. I had 50 regular customers and around 250 houses and only did 4 hours a week.

    I have just given up as there is not enough territory to go around so I could not expand anymore and was only making £100 a month profit.

    I also do house cleaning to make up my 16 required hours for wtc.

    I would have thought you were still entitled to income support until your self employment starts to make a profit. You would just declare your earnings each week or in this case each month as that is how far apart the campaigns are.
    Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.
  • i just wish i never agreed to start working...i thought i was doing right by at least working part time but looks like i was wrong
    i was given a number for crisis loans this afternoon but when i tryed i couldnt get though was on hold for over 2 hours then cut off at 4.30pm i will try them again tomorrow if they are open.
  • poog
    poog Posts: 56 Forumite
    Is there no family who can sort you out over the christmas period? I think its insane they told you to sign off for Avon, My friend did it for a few months and was worse off in the end! Is there anyway you can sign back on?
  • i would of been doing the 16 hours and did do the first two week but since i havent been able to get to the other areas due to being low on money...if it all worked out like the adviser explained it would we would of been fine and i would of been able to carry on.
    i feel like i am stuck now if i make a new claim to income support its going to take weeks and mess tax credit up even more or be in this situation and wait
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