MYSTERY SHOPPING THREAD 19 - please don't mention client names or fees on here!!

yonk

Yep, I'd agree with Lil_me as I have to provide my own equipment.

boyoboy1986

definitely self employed. I'm in the middle of a dissertation for my masters which is on MSing and its definitely self employed.

red_fox

We are not employed by companies and we have registered as self employed.

misssarahleigh

DebtHater wrote: »

Before slating other people for being "wrong", think about your own advice and wether it has any truth in it before posting.

You CAN claim JSA if you are working below 16 hours per week ON AVERAGE. Anything over that and you will not be able to claim.

Doing a couple of MS jobs a week do not disqualify you from signing on.

When you go to sign on each week/fortnight they will ask you "Have you had any work this week, paid or unpaid" - this is the point that you say yes, you disclose the work that it is and how much you were paid (state your PROFIT only). Then they will ask how many hours, if you say under 16 they will not count it.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Employedorlookingforwork/DG_10018757

And being "self employed" can be debated. This work is more of a casual type of work as opposed to self employed. You are working as a sub-contractor to a agency on an as-needed basis, this can be disputed that it isnt actually classed as self employed.
And the whole idea of JSA is to pay you an allowance whilst you look for EMPLOYED work - not to disqualify you because you did a couple of casual assignments for a small fee.

And, as quoted by the DWP: "Jobseeker’s Allowance is the main benefit for people of working age who are out of work or work less than 16 hours a week on average"

Well in that case something went very wrong in my case.

I worked temporary for one day (7.5 hours). I disclosed this to the job centre and had to provide how much i earned from that. (can't quite remember but about £45 ish).

The next payment the £45 was subtracted from the £50 I would have recieved for that week.

This happened twice.

I was also disqualified from recieving the 'getting back to work' grant of £100 as i worked for 2 days so they signed me off and back on again for that period. As my run of unemployment was interrupted by those 2 days they would not give me the money despite being unemployed for 6 months (this was before ms by the way).

So, i'm not offering advice as such, just sharing my experience.

As it was explained to me, the hour did not matter, the money i got did.

jen_br

Yeah we are not employed or casual-- casual is a worker who doesn't have a set shift pattern and is requied by said company when needed -- however they are STILL employed just not full time part-time or temp they are casual.

we are self employed-- we claim our own travel, we claim our equipment etc etc etc.

You are not casual as your not working for the company like retail eyes, you are not subcontracted to them at all.. read their T&C

jen_br

Casual or irregular worker

If you agree with most of the statements below, then it is likely that you are a worker.

• you occasionally undertake work for a particular company or business
• the company has no obligation to offer you work and you do not have to accept it - you only accept work when you are able to or willing to
• if you do accept work, your contract describes the relationship as 'casual', 'freelance', 'zero hours', 'as required' or similar
• you had to sign the company's standard terms and conditions in order to get the work
• whilst at work, you are under the supervision or control of a company manager or director
• you are expected to perform the work yourself
• the company deducts tax and National Insurance contributions from your wages
• the company provides any tools, equipment or materials that you need to undertake your work

See the highlighted above this excludes us. trust me.

TractorGirl327

jen_br wrote: »

Yeah we are not employed or casual-- casual is a worker who doesn't have a set shift pattern and is requied by said company when needed -- however they are STILL employed just not full time part-time or temp they are casual.

we are self employed-- we claim our own travel, we claim our equipment etc etc etc.

You are not casual as your not working for the company like retail eyes, you are not subcontracted to them at all.. read their T&C

jen_br wrote: »

Casual or irregular worker

If you agree with most of the statements below, then it is likely that you are a worker.

• you occasionally undertake work for a particular company or business
• the company has no obligation to offer you work and you do not have to accept it - you only accept work when you are able to or willing to
• if you do accept work, your contract describes the relationship as 'casual', 'freelance', 'zero hours', 'as required' or similar
• you had to sign the company's standard terms and conditions in order to get the work
• whilst at work, you are under the supervision or control of a company manager or director
• you are expected to perform the work yourself
• the company deducts tax and National Insurance contributions from your wages
• the company provides any tools, equipment or materials that you need to undertake your work

See the highlighted above this excludes us. trust me.

I am in AWE of you. You seem to know the answer to EVERYTHING!!

TractorGirl327

Picked up a last minute Kitchen store on RE this morning at 10am

Did the job at lunchtime

Did the report about 5pm, uploaded a photo which to me looked a bit out of focus, but left it .......... just logged on, and it's been proofread and passed for payment already!!

Is this an RE record?

_Persephone

I've been MSing for 2 weeks, and seemed to be on a roll with it. I've done three for RE, and I've got two more scheduled. In each case they processed my report really quickly, although I found out today they have disallowed my first ever assignment as I did not ask a location specific question. I could have argued that the requirements were too vague, but it wasn't worth it. I'm on a bit of a downer now, I had been getting full marks for my reports too.

Feel bloated from all the GAP food too, heh.

Monkeynut

Until they email you tomorrow to say that actually the receipt is a tad blurry after all!