New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

Andy2013

Place2print , good to have you on board keep us posted with your experience the more the merrier.

Rachel199 welcome also lets try to answer your question , rather than me ramble on for paragraphs here is a link to cash flow forecasts, basically anything related to your business is needed in a cash flow forecast but remember it is a forecast so in some respects an educated guess and things will probably turn out differently as your business gets going.

This link should help , http://learn.nab.com.au/how-to-use-cash-flow-forecasts/

Place2print

Today was my 1st face to face meeting with my mentor i now realise how in depth they require my business plan to be when applying for the loan i will basically need to provide a step by step guide on how i get my images onto my materials and add great detail to my customer profile section.

So the mentor was a older happy go lucky chap who was full of information but i feel he focused to much on my business plan rather than the financial side of things and gave the feeling he was in no rush to get me up and running we arranged to meet again in 2 weeks. I believe he is the only mentor in my area and is only in on Thursdays so i need to wait 2 weeks for him to see my business plan (was told if i email it in he will "try" and look)

The Templates we are sent are misaligned very tight on space and poorly designed the financial spreadsheet can only calculate x amount of products and are worthless to someone with no computer knowledge.I was told not to remove or add any columns to my financials this means missing out 10 products im selling just so my numbers fit on the excel sheet annoying....

Overall it seems to be a slow see as we go along scheme
but time will tell

Andy2013

Good luck with your early days of NEA, its good you have seen your mentor, lets hope he is not invisible from now on , this has been a major issue for many of us and the few regular posters of this thread seem to be going along almost by themselves so don't rely to much on the mentor and do what you need to so its a success.

The business plan is a sticking point as its primary use is to firstly get on NEA and then obtain the loan, you will be told that you "refer" to it but in reality it gets put aside because as you will find out no amount of planning, cash flow forecasting or research truly gets you ready and you have to adapt to your business as it evolves , rather than referring back to your plan which is essentially just your hopes and dreams for your business.

That said you will have to make do with the process until you get the nod so you can get the loan , although if not remember there are some good loans via banks and the fact you are on NEA will go in your favour.

For most the process is not very streamlined and has faults but utilise it where possible to get as much out of it as you can as after 6 months you are on your own and that's the true test.

NEANewbie

I've just been referred to the NEA scheme, and had a group session with my Mentor. Not really convinced at the moment... I like him, but I am in Kent and it seems like the mentor is professional and hired by the company that oversees the scheme to get us to the sign off stage ASAP.

Maybe I'm wrong but my instinct says that he'll disappear once they get their money for a successful start.

Plus, I'm still not sure about my business... it feels like it's not really the kind of thing that the schemes set up for. Not really sure it will get through.

For now I've got a business plan template, and some other things, and I've been working on getting them finished prior to the first solo meeting in two weeks time.

TrueBlue1965

NEANewbie and others, the business plan stage of NEA should take between 6-10 weeks to complete but if people are ready with the business plan. Then, things can move much faster but thats up to you.

You should get regular mentoring and support. The mentoring could be face to face, through phone chats or by e-mail. Dont let JCP staff or NEA put pressure on you to finish your business plan before your ready. Its your time to set-up the business with the help and support of a mentor if you find problems. Its your business and a very big step. Go at your pace! As once your trading you will have a thousand and one things to do. So use the time well while doing the business plan stage of NEA. Its often fun but its still hard work once your trading and on your own.

There might be free workshops available in your area re setting up a business. Ask! My area does 6 workshops but every NEA scheme seems to offer different things and different levels of support. The only way your going to get anything is by asking. So, ask!

The business plan and cashflow stage is the time that you think about every aspect of your business and how your going to make it work. Its the normal way that banks, loan companies and NEA check that your new business could be viable. Its a guide to your business stating what your hoping to achieve in the early years of the business. In reality, your business will likely be very different to what you put in your business plan once your trading.

ggg1

An update from me on my NEA struggle...
I already said, that I was finally referred to NEA on 29/4 after demanding to know why NEA people still haven't called me and my JCP advisor finding out that I haven't signed one form (which no one ever told me I need to sign). Because of this reason, during my sign-on appointment on 23/4, I was referred to the 'decision makers' for not doing my job searches and got sanctioned for 4 weeks. I appealed this sanction, because:
- I believed that I was already on NEA and my advisor kept telling me just to wait for a call
- I was told in the group session that writing business plan is now our job-searching activity.
After getting referred to NEA, I received a call from my mentor within an hour and he arranged a meeting with me on 8/5. On the same evening of 29th I sent my business plan to my mentor and next day got a reply that my business plan is approved and got emailed application forms for a loan. I decided to wait with my loan application until meeting the mentor, because I wanted to get it right and there were a few small points I needed advice on. In the meantime, I had another sign-on day on 7/5, where my advisor greeted my telling that my business plan is approved (which I already knew) and asking when I'm gonna sign-off. She seemed happy about the prospect of getting rid of me soon and there were no questions at all about the job-searches. When I asked about my sanction appeal, I was told that there is still no response on it.
I went to meet my mentor for the first (and probably last) time on 8/5. We had a conversation for 10-15minutes where he answered my questions about loan application and told to do things one step at a time (now focus on loan application). He didn't seem too interested (at one point I noticed, that he wasn't listening to what I was saying), but was polite and helpful with answers about loan (although stressing, that it's a different company that provides the loan). After meeting him, on the same day, I filled the loan application. I found out that, instead of posting, I can fill it on gleenterpriseloans website and decided to do it this way, hoping that it will take less time to get a reply. It was fairly straight-forward, most of the questions are the same as on the paper loan application and you need to upload your business plan, cash-flow forecast and personal survival budget, as well as scanned copies of your certified proof of ID and address. One extra thing was, that they asked to upload my 3 months bank statements (didn't see this on printed application). I had about 2.5 months statements on hand and uploaded those, hoping it will pass. Another odd thing, that I had to enter the amount of loan I want only on the last step (after already uploading business plan and filling everything else). On my business plan and all the spreadsheets I was asking for £2400 and when I got to this last step I found out that I can enter amount only with £500 intervals (500-1000-1500-2000-2500). Since my plan was already uploaded, I ended up asking for £2500 and hoping that this inaccuracy with my business plan won't be noticed.
It all worked out and on 13/5 (3 working days later) I received an email saying that my loan is approved and loan documents been posted to me. I received them next day, signed and posted back few hours later. On my loan application I've chosen to start paying back the loan from first month, but the documents they posted (and I signed, not wanting to waste time) were with interest only payments for one year.
On the loan papers it said, that after getting my signed copy they will fax jobcentre asking to confirm that I'm already off out-of-work benefits. So, on the same day (14/5), I went to the see my advisor and told her that I'm signing-off. She seemed to be not completely sure about how to do this transfer from JSA to NEA, but found it out from colleagues. After that was done I asked her about my sanction appeal, because I haven't received any response yet. She checked on the computer and told me that my sanction finished a week ago. Again reminded her, that I appealed that sanction and still haven't got any response. She started looking more and more confused and first asked collegues around, then tried unsucsesfully call someone and finally asked me to wait and disappeared to look for the answer onto the different floors of the Jobcentre. Half hour later she came back giving me a leaflet about DWP and showing the part about complaining. Then she confirmed that there is still no response on my appeal and that it has been sent to Inverness (week earlier I received a letter from a postcode in Wolverhampton that my appeal is receievd). Now I became a lot more worried about our northern neighbours gaining independence. Might be the end of jobcentres, as it looks like there's no one to make decisions in this country...

Greenshepherd

Hi everybody!
I have been following this thread with great interest and want to tell you all "thanks" for all information provided :beer:

My situation:
1) business plan approved
2) I have been already getting my NEA payments
3) with housing benefit I am still trying to solve chase up my claim because they gave me one month time with a claim of "0" income but now they need some income. You all know how difficult it is to start a business. I am really working hard and hope to finally slowly see a financial improvement. At the moment, I am earing only around 40 pounds per week. Well, I am chasing up my HB claim

I heard from you mentioning here in this thread "working tax credit". Also my business adviser drew my attention to it but somehow I so far I haven'T had time to deal with this new claim and all the papers I might need.
But now I am considering to finally deal with it, in order to have some additional financial help during this difficult time.
My questions are:

1) wouldn't it be better to claim Income support? The reason why I am asking this is because as far as I could understand from the GOV.website, to claim working tax credit you need to have a paid work. We all are here self employes, so there is no employer who is paying me. I am still working on marketing, advertising, developing my website, using channels like facebook and twitter to gain potential customers AND AT THE MOMENT I HAVE ONLY ONE CUSTOMER WHO PAYS CASH. Therefore, I was wondering how would it work with the "working tax credit"

2) could please somebody be so kind as to explaint to me what should I do, what benefit (working tax credi OR income support) should/can I claim?

I would be glad if somebody could give me some help.
Many thanks in advance
regards

dktreesea

Greenshepherd wrote: »

Hi everybody!
I have been following this thread with great interest and want to tell you all "thanks" for all information provided :beer:

My situation:
1) business plan approved
2) I have been already getting my NEA payments
3) with housing benefit I am still trying to solve chase up my claim because they gave me one month time with a claim of "0" income but now they need some income. You all know how difficult it is to start a business. I am really working hard and hope to finally slowly see a financial improvement. At the moment, I am earing only around 40 pounds per week. Well, I am chasing up my HB claim

I heard from you mentioning here in this thread "working tax credit". Also my business adviser drew my attention to it but somehow I so far I haven'T had time to deal with this new claim and all the papers I might need.
But now I am considering to finally deal with it, in order to have some additional financial help during this difficult time.
My questions are:

1) wouldn't it be better to claim Income support? The reason why I am asking this is because as far as I could understand from the GOV.website, to claim working tax credit you need to have a paid work. We all are here self employes, so there is no employer who is paying me. I am still working on marketing, advertising, developing my website, using channels like facebook and twitter to gain potential customers AND AT THE MOMENT I HAVE ONLY ONE CUSTOMER WHO PAYS CASH. Therefore, I was wondering how would it work with the "working tax credit"

2) could please somebody be so kind as to explaint to me what should I do, what benefit (working tax credi OR income support) should/can I claim?

I would be glad if somebody could give me some help.
Many thanks in advance
regards

You can't claim income support, because you are working so not entitled to it. The correct support to claim, if you have a low income from your business, is WTC. But I thought during the first stage of your business whatever benefits you were getting from the DWP continue on for a year, but just get called NEA instead of JSA? If you are still getting those benefits, then there's no point applying for WTC just yet.

For people who are on NEA, do you also claim WTC?

NEANewbie

As a rule most people on NEA won't qualify for income support.

Self employment specifically counts as work for working tax credits. The two man potential hurdles are: (1) proving the number of hours you work and (2) proving that you are working in expectation of a profit.

NEANewbie

dktreesea wrote: »

You can't claim income support, because you are working so not entitled to it. The correct support to claim, if you have a low income from your business, is WTC. But I thought during the first stage of your business whatever benefits you were getting from the DWP continue on for a year, but just get called NEA instead of JSA? If you are still getting those benefits, then there's no point applying for WTC just yet.

For people who are on NEA, do you also claim WTC?

NEA doesn't count as income for working tax credit purposes. You can claim working tax credits & etc while on NEA. After finishing your business you have 3 months on nea, then 3 months on reduced NEA (which, including WTC is still higher than benefits) .