New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

Andy2013

It certainly sounds as though things have improved, good luck to you I hope it works well for you.


A business plan is going to help when applying for future finance that's for certain, banks love a business plan , so its good practice for when that happens.


To me the definition of a business plan is like having a picture of your gorgeous ex girlfriend in your wallet, it reminds you of what may have been , instead of what actually came reality.

H_Metal_Fan

Andy2013 wrote: »

It certainly sounds as though things have improved, good luck to you I hope it works well for you.


A business plan is going to help when applying for future finance that's for certain, banks love a business plan , so its good practice for when that happens.


To me the definition of a business plan is like having a picture of your gorgeous ex girlfriend in your wallet, it reminds you of what may have been , instead of what actually came reality.

Thanks. Well I've been to the local JC+ office again today and things are progressing. Tiny little snail bit at a time but progress is still progress I guess.

So I have no need to job search any more. Got the new claimant commitment agreement saying all my time is dedicated to my business plan from now on. Got my next 3 appointments booked with various people for various things.

9th I'm back with my business advisor again to officially enroll back on the NEA. 13th is my regular work focused interview though my advisor is off and I'll have a replacement. I'll be sure to bring my new agreement with me in case they decide I'm lying about not needing to look for work I've read that's happened to some people.

Then finally on the 27th I've got a 1.5 hour gateway appointment. This is the jobcenter agreeing that from this date I'll be self employed. Though my advisor did say depending on what happens with the business plan all I have to do is email her and it can be moved forward or backwards.(lucky I got an advisor who's helpful rather than what other people get I guess)

I have little over 48 hours before my 2 years with the work program are up then I'll not have to worry about them any more either. Keeping in mind my last advisor emailed them at the start of January asking them to phone me as I'd not heard anything from them in nearly 6 month and now another 3 months later still not a thing I'm sure with 48 hours on the clock they'll continue to be as useless as ever.

On the downside some bad news I got handed today at the JC+ office. I won't get my £65 payments starting until I'm trading. But it's an online business. I can't get my website up and running without that cash. Can't save up it's a joint UC claim we get £391 a month between us. Less than £50 a week as it is by the time the bills are paid we are stuck getting cheap Asda tins to live off not a chance we can do any saving up. So I got told to have a word with my business mentor about that as she deals with all the NEA payments and everything it's nothing to do with JC+ or CU at all.

It just wouldn't be the job center without at least one bit of bad news every time you go in I guess now would it.

Andy2013

Your right there, always a sour point with a JC visit.


My situation was similar , I also own an online business and I did manage to save £300 during mu final weeks leading upto NEA allowing me to buy stock, each week re-investing profits to buy more etc. etc.


There must be help for you so indeed ask and shout where needed, they seem to get hearing issues when money is asked for.

H_Metal_Fan

Andy2013 wrote: »

Your right there, always a sour point with a JC visit.


My situation was similar , I also own an online business and I did manage to save £300 during mu final weeks leading upto NEA allowing me to buy stock, each week re-investing profits to buy more etc. etc.


There must be help for you so indeed ask and shout where needed, they seem to get hearing issues when money is asked for.

Under UC we don't have access to anything like a social fund or advanced payments or a back to work bonus of any kind. We get what we get.

I'd be able to save no issues if we got the full £249 a month each but we get £391 between us as it's a joint claim so we can hardly manage until the end of the month never mind saving up on top of that as well.

Just as I thought I'd be off it for good as well. Should have known they'd be a spanner thrown in the works eventually lol.

Andy2013

This is a bit of a stumbling block but hopefully they can help, I don't understand the ins and outs of UC I am afraid.


Keep pushing this is the first of many hurdles I am sure, business is strewn with them ,you sound well equipped and focused, I wish you luck.

H_Metal_Fan

Andy2013 wrote: »

This is a bit of a stumbling block but hopefully they can help, I don't understand the ins and outs of UC I am afraid.


Keep pushing this is the first of many hurdles I am sure, business is strewn with them ,you sound well equipped and focused, I wish you luck.

Thanks again. I've actually just rang up my work program morons and been told I finished on the 25th. 5 days ago. Yet JC+ have me down as finishing in 3 days time. I only rang about getting my exiting interview over the phone as in May last year I moved 60 miles away from where I used to live to be with my partner and the Avanta up this way is totally booked up. I don't have a clue how they've ended up 8 days out of sync with each other but I'm gonna email my JC+ advisor straight after writing this and see what's what.

I think if this business did ever take off and I'd need to hire more people I'd just walk into JC+ find who's being messed around the most and hire them there and then no questions asked just to !!!! them right off. An interview in the actual job center and the only question would be what's your disaster story signing on. Who ever is getting the worst time of it will instantly have a job.

Andy2013

Like any walk of life you get those who care and those who don't and the JC is the same, I had 1 chap that could not do more to help me and together we worked well and he helped me get to where I am today, pretty much everyone else I dealt with was a total moron, no one seems to know very much about anything , because who cares, its just a job.


That's the difference with self employment, its your baby, its also your problem and when things go wrong its only you that can sort them out, and that's a real motivator , don't sort it and you may go out of business.


My advice is use what you can get hold of in the way of the scheme, but don't rely on it, be in control of your own destiny, don't let someone else say you cant, because you can !!

pinkypoopydoo

H_Metal_Fan wrote: »

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.

When I was on NEA, I had to bring proof of all the work I had been doing towards my business plan and start-up when I signed on, during the 8 weeks between being given a mentor to signing off, then had to produce evidence of trading and business building during the entirety of my NEA payments. It was a pain in the hole at the time, as I had a bit of a personality clash with my JC advisor, and she couldn't understand why I couldn't show her confidential paperwork (ie, accounting work I was doing on behalf of clients) at the checks (but I did show her piles of invoices/receipts/bank statements etc), but I totally understand why it had to be done - I've heard quite a few stories of people who were accepted by the local mentoring company, then did ef all for eight weeks, until they got chucked off the scheme, or did enough to be signed onto NEA payments, then did nothing with their business.

This time two years ago I was working on my business plan, and panicking. Fast forward two years, and I have a modestly successful business, the prospect of having earned enough in the last tax year to be facing a tax bill, and enough work to justify moving my business out of my home and into a proper office premises

TrueBlue1965

Hi H Metal Fan. Sounds like you have your head screwed on and your in control of the NEA process.

Look at the business plan as a research project and your aiming to put your ideas on paper. Once you have completed your business plan. Hopefully, you will have some of the answers to difficult questions your likely to come across once your running your business. Hopefully, you will have most of the answers because you did all that research to complete your business plan.

As your after finance to start your business (website). Im guessing your hoping to get the NEA loan? If im correct. You need to think about how the whole loan process, business plan and signing off UC all works. You cannot get the loan until your business plan has been signed off by your NEA advisers. You cannot get the loan paid into your bank account until you have signed off UC. JCP tell the NEA loan providers that you are now signed off UC. So, timing is everything!

I would not be aiming to sign off UC until your NEA loan has been agreed and signed for and processed by the loan provider. You want the loan ready to go into your bank account as soon as JCP tell the loan provider that you have signed off UC. The loan can take upto3 weeks to process once you have had your business plan signed off. So, if you expect to have your business plan signed off on 27th. Aim to sign off UC about 3 weeks after that date. If you dont have the loan in the bank. Your not trading!

Im not sure how Working Tax Credits works as part of UC. However, im guessing it will work very similar to the old Working Tax Credits system. As your a couple. You will need to be working 30+ hours per week and be able to show that your trading (invoices, in,s and outs of your business). See the connection between getting the loan set up and paided into your bank account before you sign off the unemployment part of UC. So, your able to work in your business and trading? Better off having everything in place before you sign off UC. Otherwise your living off the NEA payments before you have a chance to start making money from your business. You might be happy with those extra few weeks of NEA payments 6 months down the line.

You will need to keep good records for UC/Working Tax Credits/Housing Benefit and NEA. Your likely to be requested to show your books/records to prove that your trading. In my case 3 times at JCP for NEA and twice in my first year of trading at my local One Stop Shop re housing and Working Tax Credits. Those benefits are what allow you to survive until your earnings start to grow from your business. The more you earn. The less support you will get from those benefits.

Hope this helps and good luck.

H_Metal_Fan

Thanks Andy and Pinky for your advice on the subject.

I'm really looking forward to going self employed. I don't want to start saying what it is I'm doing yet but I do have a really good feeling about it.

I genuinely believe my current advisors both at the JC+ office and the one mentoring me for my business start up care. They have both gone out their way to help me when ever they can. It's just red tape and a lack of information that's keeping things from progressing a a faster pace. Something none of us can help. DWP and government rules are what make it like that nothing else.

Anyway I'll be sure to keep track of my progress o here good or bad it might help other people with it in the future.

P.S as for my business being my baby hell yeah lol. Be putting every second I can into making it a great success.