Am I entitled to Job Seekers Allowance?

Legacy_user

Hi, I have been running an online ebay business for a year now therefore I am registered as self-employed. It was doing fairly well but in recent months I have not been making very much and now need to find full time work.

I want to keep running the business as it is still making a profit just very little. Could I be entitled to job seekers allowance as I am not earning much and need to find work or..... I am self employed therefore I can't receive anything?

Thanks.

stephyt23

Direct.gov website say;s:

Who can get Jobseeker's Allowance?
To get Jobseeker's Allowance you must be:
available for, capable of and actively seeking work
aged 18 or over but below State Pension age
working less than 16 hours per week on average
in Great Britain

Nothing to say you can't claim if you are self employed

scooby088

Only thing i can think of is you may have to declare any profit you make, this maybe deducted from any benefit award. you can apply online at https://www.directgov.co.uk

Raquela

I think (but could be wrong), is that the same rules apply as they do to employed persons; i.e. you can work up to 16 hours a week. Any profit you make you would need to tell them about; what would happen in real terms is they would deduct the amount of your profit from your benefit, I think you are allowed to keep up to £5 of your benefit. Current benefit is around £65, so if your profit each week is more than that, you probably wouldn't be able to claim JSA, if it's less then it's definitely a good idea.

Note that you would actually have to be looking for work to claim. You may be able to claim Housing Benefit / Council Tax benefit on the low income without claiming JSA. Best thing to do is to phone the benefits helpline and see what they say!