New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

annimay

thank you I'm not overly impressed with the way things have gone so far my initial interview was cancelled by txt message they asked me to ring them then wouldn't answer calls eventually another appointment was made for Monday and when I arrived the person had no knowledge of me or the appointment ,Ive been invited to next stage meeting but am seriously worried about this Ive tried to do benefit calculation regarding working tax credit and it just tells me I cant claim due to Pip ,spoke to JC advisor and they cant tell me what I will get as its not a live claim yet so Im confused to say the least .

Andy2013

Firstly you need to be able to afford to live, it goes without saying so get in contact with DWP and they can help you with the PIP payment issue, also contact your local authority for housing advice and explain the situation with them .


Something that comes up a lot is the question of whether or not someone is better of on NEA, the general simple answer tends to be no BUT you need to remember NEA is a short term thing in a long term game, its about building a business that can be profitable long term and maybe one day make some nice money for you but in the short term you are likely to be pushed financially, this is something that you need to be aware of , so get in contact with the relevant parties and find out how you will be able to afford living costs and go from there.


You should not be put in a position where joining the scheme leaves you unable to live, NEA is less weekly than JSA and although I don't understand PIP when added together you should be able to cover living costs.


You need to be proactive because NEA is very sparing with its advice and those who don't push themselves I fear may be left behind.


Without it seeming blunt you need to help yourself out as most people involved in NEA, JSA ,DWP or HMRC , cant figure there !!! from there elbow.

mellowb

I have been on this scheme for 6/7 weeks now, and have little positive to say about it.....They will insist on you putting together a sales forecast that shows you making a profit from week one,YES, week one....

Andy2013

The opinions on NEA differ, although this sounds very similar to a lot of experiences I have read about.


The best way to utilise NEA is to use the money offered and any help given ( which is sparse) and then get your head down and get on with making your business a success.


To many rely on and indeed hope that NEA will be a miracle cure giving them all the answers and a big step forward but the truth is YOU need to do what's best for YOU and get things going , work hard, keep pushing to improve and never look back only forward using any mistakes as a learning curve.


My experience was diabolical but rather than keep stressing about the help I was not getting I got my head down and did what I had to so it was a success, 3 years on and I have a very different lifestyle to that prior to going self employed.


The funding is out there for anyone to go self-employed even without NEA, if someone wants it bad enough they will make it work, others will blame the system and fail .


The first test is how much do you want it, NEA is a hassle, it could put you off but on the other hand if your built for self employment you will brush the difficulties aside and strive to move forward, with or without NEA.

mellowb

Of course ur right, i had just had one of those meetings where i was just told to add more and more sales to my forcast..So i would get plan validated...Ok thats fine..But surely my sales should show growth, i am being told i need to be earning as much in month 1 as month 12!!Mine is quality home cooked frozen food done from home(been a chef for 25yrs), and i know a lot of my business is word of mouth, i know there is a local market..
To be fair doing the course has helped me understand a lot more than i did about business.Though the business plan template was a nightmare...!

Andy2013

No business is going to earn as much in month 1 as a whole year of trading later, unless its badly run and you show no growth, they are taking total ****


Whom ever told you this should be dropped by the scheme because this advice is ludicrous


In the first year things are very slow, in the first months a loss is not a bad thing as sales may be slow and your re-investment can mean more going out than coming in, this is normal but hopefully over the 6 months of NEA you learn some valuable lessons and by month 7 you are in a place able to go it alone.


I am worried by your statements about " increasing sales to get the plan validated" this sounds very dodgy and bad advice on how to forecast a financial year.


This advisor should be taught a few business lesson I feel.

totallytech

Do you have your own business start up group locally? We have one in Great Yarmouth called GY Enterprise and one for Norfolk called NWES, and my JSA advisor told me that the new NSA referals are to a new service which has had "teathing" problems, so not to expect much help other than the funds however I need to use NWES or GYE and they will provide much more support (Free) and training for any staff etc, and assist with start up loans and funding etc.

Seems comical that the DWP are telling you to go elsewhere for help when this is a new service provider (last 2 months).

My main concern was money to live on, so I was thinking if the NSA isnt worth the time and effort then I would come off NSA completely and just claim tax credits, and use NWES or GYE to assist with the start up etc. I'd actually be better off financially by claiming tax credits not the NSA - but I'm happy to stick with it at the moment and see what stress it adds. I've been told that I still need to attend the JCP every fortnight to discuss how the business is going etc, which seems slightly mental!

H_Metal_Fan

I've been reading this entire thread on and off since January and figured it's time I put a post in to document my experience on this program so far. Well at least around it as I'm not officially on it yet.

So around mid January time I told my JC advisor that I was looking to go self employed seeing as I wasn't having any luck finding work since my last seasonal job last year. I had no issues getting my advisor to tell me exactly what I needed to be on. She said no the New Enterprise Allowance would be something that I should look into then. She explained the process to me and it all seemed very good and workable.

So Googling for it when I got home that's when I found this forum and stated my reading. So being all informed about the scheme and what not I thought when it came time to having my first appointment with my business advisor that things would go well and I would be able to have the wool pulled over my eyes at all.

So I get to my appointment and it all goes well. She agrees to continue to enrol me on the program and tells my JC+ advisor that I had an excellent business idea and that is was very workable.

But I was told that not all the information I came across on this forum applied to me as I'm on Universal Credit and things have progressed since then.

So My next appointment with my JC+ advisor comes around and then the bad news hits. I'm already on Avanta. She didn't know that I couldn't be on them both at the same time. But my business advisor had already booked me on a networking course for the very next day.

Not totally bad news I was informed that I was due to finish my time with the work program in 5 weeks. That date is rapidly approaching now. So I finish Avanta on the 2nd of April then rejoin my NEA again for the start on the 3rd April. Apparently I'm really lucky in the fact my time on the stupid work program carried on right through me being at work seeing as they are supposed to help you stay in work once you find it and didn't start again when I left work and got moved to Universal Credit from JSA other wise I'd never see the end of them 2 years.

Now all that messing around isn't a total loss as I have 8 weeks for my business plan but needed to have it in by week 6 due to the time needed to process it. I was already 3 weeks into it the first time around meaning that my time on it would have been up by the time I got to the end of the work program so any work that I already did during them 3 weeks on my business plan has been extra time as I would need to start again.

As a sort of a bonus even though I'm not officially on anything yet my JC+ advisor has changed my claimers commitment agreement to take my job search time of 35 hours down by half for the 5 weeks I was waiting to finish Avanta before she removes the job search requirement totally when I join back up to it again the next time. Then to further make this better I have had my regular 2 week interview extended to 4 weeks and have been told even though I can't be taken off Avanta just to ignored them like they have done with me for the past year. They've done nothing in nearly then now it's near the end they want feedback and so on so I've been told just to avoid them as much as possible just keep working on my business plan.

In short lots of time has been and gone lots has been said and done and I'm not even on the scheme officially yet. But I'm looking forward to it though having seen that other people on this forum have made an success of things even with a bad business advisor. I feel quite lucky in that respect as mine has been nothing but helpful despite JC+ messing me around none stop and has even agreed to help me on the side during the 5 weeks before I can start the program again. Massively helpful.

Anyway I've been told as well that under Universal credit some things have improved. I can earn upto £111 a month before my benefit is affected and then it's 65P removed for every £1 after that £111 I earn. That included self employment and doesn't include the £65 from NEA as that's not counted as income. So no needing to sign off before I can start my business like I have seen some other people saying about further down this forum thread.

Also the floor of assumed income doesn't come into play until I've been trading for 12 months. If I can't make minimum wage by that point I need to call it a day anyway. Apparently they are supposed to take the first 12 months earnings as what I tell them at face value rather than assume minimum wage is being earned so they won't quickly assume £111 is being earned and start deducting money from my lifeline.

It all seems to have got a lot neater and easier to navigate than what a lot of people on here have reported. The only thing gone wrong with it so far is my JC+ advisor not knowing I had to finish Avanta first. But they more than made up for that since then changing my job search agreement in advance and so on.

No shortage of information and where there was gaps they've been really good and finding this stuff out for me. No need to sign off now before getting my payments and breathing space before the assumed floor nonesense kicks in. Apparently though these are all changed that came in at the start of this year so anyone who's not gone through with this program because of other people's past experiences should consider it now things have gotten better from what I can see.

Andy2013

This all sounds a lot more positive, keep us updated as personally I left the scheme a long time ago, your info will be very much helpful.


Its still frustrating that work programme holds people up, cant they just call it a day and move you onto NEA, ?? you could be well on your way now.


Also the business plan is a very over rated aspect of this scheme, I have spoken to, in person and via here 20+ NEA 'ers and never has anyone heard of a candidate being refused the scheme due to a bad idea/business plan.


Some will argue they are vital in business, but a lot including me see them as a list of hopes and dreams, business is a living breathing animal and you need to adapt to changes as they happen, referring to your plan is worthless, its never near the reality of real time business.


1 have said it before but Richard Branson claims never to have written one and I can see why, I made a paper plane out of mine if I remember rightly.


H Metal Fan od luck to you keep us updated

H_Metal_Fan

Hi Andy thanks for the support I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on what happens with it.

I'm not happy about it keeping me waiting but at the end of the day what's 5 weeks when you read some of the other issues other people have had on it. The JC+ advisor said she has not issues putting me back on the day after I finish with the work program and the business advisor has said she has no issues accepting me onto it again. I've had an extra 5 weeks to work on in that other people do not is how I look at it. It's not a massive deal. Besides I stop work searching at my appointment in exactly 7 hours from now. 9:20 this morning will see my job search agreement changed to show I won't need to look for work any more. 3 days after it's change I come off the stupid work program and on the 3rd next month The good stuff shall start.

I don't particularly like the business plan and I'll be getting rid of mine as soon as I leave the office as well. But I suspect they do it to spot the would be fakers. I've seen on another site somewhere lots of people have taken the free £1,274 paid in weekly amounts declared not needed to job search and when the JC decided enough was enough they clearly wasn't working on it at all declared themselves bankrupt go back to job searching. Basically more money without doing anything for it. The business plan would go some way to stopping that by showing people have researched things worked on it so on so on. I honestly don't think it's more than that.

All in all the scheme still clearly has issues but it seems most of them have been ironed out over the years. Someone who actually replies to email rather than a business mentor who doesn't not having to sign off 12 months actually believing what I earn no questions asked before breathing down my neck saying I've done this many hours and minimum wage is this so bye bye benefits. A hell of a lot better than most people seem to have had things.