New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

TrueBlue1965

Depends on your income and family situation. If your part a family with kids that get full working tax credits because of low income Then, you will get though the post an NHS card which gives you and your family free precriptions, eye tests and dental treatment ect for a year. Im guessing I will lose this benefit once im earning x amount of money and the working tax credits start to reduce. Either way, I should always be better off.

If you dont get an NHS card but need regular prescription medication. You can get a year prescription charges card which can save you quite a bit of money depending on the number of items you have on you prescriptions. Think its about £130 now.

D4VE

Another update from me to hopefully help people looking into this.

I left my documents that needed to be certified at the JCP and 2 weeks later they hadn't been received by NEA. I went back to JCP with them again and got told they hadn't been faxed over as promised, but sent back to me, but I'd not received them. I got them to certify them there and then and took home and email off to NEA. Why they couldn't have done this in the first place, I don't know.

Even though my business plan had been checked and approved, I was asked to provide a cashflow on their template, but just sent over a revised version of mine, which they accepted.

I have now received notification that my loan has been accepted - so anyone else thinking their credit history will be a problem needn't worry (I'm sure mine is horendous !). I need to wait for the loan agreement to arrive then sign and return.

Does anyone that's got to this stage have any suggestions with timings etc. I know I have to sign off before they'll release the loan, but also need to know I'll have some money coming in and when.

I will be having another meeting with my NEA mentor, who may know how best to proceed.

pinkypoopydoo

I had a meeting with my Job Centre Advisor once my business plan had been signed off, and between us we agreed on the date that I should sign off - I had expected to be told I had to sign off straight away, but she actually took into account that my first work was signed up to start on a specific date, and that became my launch date, with me signing off the Friday before. I then got my JSA (up to the day I was moved over to NEA) at the end of my first week in business, with my first NEA payment appearing in the bank at the end of the second week.

I didn;t apply for a loan, so I can't say how long it would take for that to appear in your account

JumbleBumble_2

Wow just wow!

The NEA payment I can confirm is a payment of £65 every 2 weeks for 13 weeks THEN a further £33 for another 13 weeks.

The 1st business Mentor you get is not helpful in anyway shape or form. (But I carried on thinking this was just a slight issue but I wouldn't need to deal with him once my business plan was approved, he was a volunteer and got quite angry every time I needed to chat to him.

It took them a whole 5 months to process my application.

I had work lined up that I couldn't or wouldn't do (commision only and money would be deducted from my JSA) if I had of carried out seeking sales whilst awaiting the NEA/Business Advisor to process my account.

I finally got my business plan approved 1 month after submitting it - which took me up until mid December which in the sectors I am selling in all deadlines were cut mid December.

Then I missed my 6 weekly review tried to call the Job Centre Advisor every day for a whole month as I literally could not move due to illness, and was placed on divert to a phone that rang for 6 mins and then rang off.

Then decided to make my way when being able to move and got told by another business advisor that everything would be OK and we just needed to have a meeting to get an action plan together.

Met the Business Advisor for a coffee and she set me up a action plan, but mainly talked/gossiped, and then I came away thinking I could start and felt positive I could move forward with said BA by my side.

Then I emailed the Business Advisor asking for some additional help, just to clarify some USP, design work, pricing etc. Then did not receive a reply so called to see if we could set up another meeting or discuss via the phone at a convenient time for the said business advisor.

Advised me to drive to Job Centre and see BA, went in yesterday and got shouted at and told that my business so far was purely just a hobbie and that I should go back onto JSA! OR submit another business plan to get my payments reinstalled, because they have stopped because I missed the appointment in January, even though up until 2 weeks ago they were still getting paid.

So there we have it.........................THE NEA Scheme!!!! which sounds too good to be TRUE.... and is!

Andy2013

JumbleBumble welcome to the home of the moan, the thread that puts the reality behind the hopeless, pointless government ego boost that is NEA.

TrueBlue1965

D4VE, phone the NEA loan company and ask them when they intend to send the fax over to JCP to verify that you have signed off JSA and signed up to NEA. My loan company advised me as to when to sign off JSA and sign up for the NEA payments so that everything runs quickly and smooth. They are aware that you need the loan to start trading.

Sign off JSA and sign up to NEA payments as advised by the loan company to fit in with the confomation fax!

Back office at JCP will get a fax from the loan company asking to confirm that you have signed off JSA and signed up to NEA. Once JCP verified by fax that you have signed off JSA and signed up to NEA payments. Your loan is paid in to your bank account in about 5 workng days

I phoned my adviser at JCP on the day after the loan company had stated that they intended to send the fax. I asked him to confirm with back office at JCP that they had recieved the fax from the loan company. Any issues with the fax at JCP. Phone the loan company and confirm that the fax has been sent. If they have delayed the fax. Tell them to pull their finger out. If the loan company confirm that the fax has been sent to JCP. Tell JCP to pull their finger out.

Taking control is the best way to get things done at this stage!

Once you sign off JSA. You should get any money owed to you for JSA after about a week NEA payments should start coming into your bank account after about two weeks.

Im now 4 months into NEA. March has been my best month so fare. Did my books for the month tonight and im making money!

D4VE

Thanks TrueBlue1965

Im now 4 months into NEA. March has been my best month so fare. Did my books for the month tonight and im making money!

Firstly, congratulations )

Taking control is the best way to get things done at this stage!

Yes, I've learned my lesson from the document certification shambles. Although it doesn't help when the information you're given is false (i.e. Being told they've been sent off (THREE times) when they haven't).

My idea is to sign on (say on a Monday) as usual.
Send the loan documents off 1st class on Wednesday.
Visit JCP on Thursday and sign off (having just received money for last fortnight).
Should receive (final) 3 days JSA money the following week.
Should also receive loan at the end of this following week.

I will also send a letter to Housing Benefit on the Wednesday (day before signing off) informing them and also TELLING them not to stop my payments.

From what I've read, HB ask you to provide figures, and they then work out what you're entitled to. Does anyone know what these calculations are (or where I can find them on web) ?

I'll ask HB but am sure they'll tell me the computer does them ! - Which is no help, as the computer only does as it's told, so the calcs must be somewhere. I would like to know beforehand exactly how they work out what they class as profit.

Andy2013

In THEORY the transition from JSA to NEA may take a couple of weeks as one payment stops and the other starts , sometimes less sometimes more, but ultimately the money should all tie up so you switch from one to another without loss.

As for HB they ask for your estimation of earnings to start with, only PROFIT is taken into account and then usually every 2-3 months they will ask you to provide figures to show how your income is increasing and as it does they will reduce the HB until at some point you are capable of paying the full amount yourself.

Of course this is all in THEORY so stand your ground and tell them what needs to happen

TrueBlue1965

You can work out what your entitled to re Housing Benefit/Working Tax credits/Child Tax credits ect by doing a better off calculation. Do the calculaton a few times for different amounts of potential monthly profit from your business to get a feel for how your earnings effect your Housing Benefit and any other benefits your still entitled too. A lot depend on your individual situation as to how much your entitled to and how much you lose as you start to make a profit. Amazed that your JCP adviser did not do a better off calculation with you before you attempted to go on NEA.

Get a book keeping ledger and use it. Ideal for the checks from Housing Benefit and the NEA checks, ect!

D4VE

Thanks for the replies.

As for HB they ask for your estimation of earnings to start with, only PROFIT is taken into account and then usually every 2-3 months they will ask you to provide figures to show how your income is increasing and as it does they will reduce the HB until at some point you are capable of paying the full amount yourself.

It's this 'profit' figure I want them to give me the calculations for, as it's different to the HMRC 'profit'. I can give them a copy of my Business Plan so they can see my estimates.

i.e. If my sales are £1,000 in the first month. I want to know what I can offset against that. From that, £500 will be Cost of Sales, leaving a £500 Gross Profit (GP). Expenses would be £250 and I'd also need a computer (£250), therefore leaving a £0 Net Profit (NP).

Month 2 could be £2,000 sales, £1,000 GP, £250 Expenses, £250 Equipment, £400 drawings, leaving a Net Profit of £100. I know they'll take the £400 drawings into account as well as the £100 NP, but this is less than my current JSA.

Get a book keeping ledger and use it. Ideal for the checks from Housing Benefit and the NEA checks, ect!

I've got all the spreadsheets set up for doing the accounts, but will most probably use Sage eventually.