New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

WantToBeSE

Oh, and also i asked what i could do to speed things up. He suggested starting to write a rough copy of a business plan. I have found this link which i hope someone will find useful:

https://www.gov.uk/write-business-plan

So thats what i am starting on today

WantToBeSE

WantToBeSE wrote: »

WTC, HB, CTB (or its replacement), FSM and Childcare ALL depend on how many hours you are working.

Sorry, i dont think i explained that very well. The WTC eligability depends on hours, but HB and the CTB replacement (called council tax support in my area) depend on money earned, not hours.

andyscott

If anyone is still looking for flyers printed you should google Fairprint Dundee. They deliver through the Uk and are very cheap and good quality.

You can view prices online but if you register your details with them online they email you a trade price list which is a lot cheaper. It does not cost to register.

If anyone wants me to check out prices before they register just let me know what you are looking for.

to give example of their prices you can have flyers printed on 130g Gloss paper for

10,000 A5 - £79.20

10,000 A6 - £53.60

They also send you monthly emails with special offers

I am not connected with fairprint in any way and dont receive any commission from them. I just know

pinkypoopydoo

That's brilliant, thankyou WantToBeSE! I actually think I've managed to pick up a regular 10 hours a week today (will know by the end of the week), which would be a boost towards claiming WTC etc, as 6-10 hours a week working on the business could easily be fitted around the 2 hours work a day, and the childrens school/nursery hours.

I've already got a basic template for a business plan from the BG website, so will take that with me on Monday too.

I am feeling a good deal more positive about work/life/everything today after hearing all this!

andyscott

Pinkypoopydoo how did you get on today with pricing flyers.

pinkypoopydoo

I didn;t get a chance in the end, between one thing and another. I'm going into town tomorrow to see if I can find someone local, if not it'll be a google search.

andyscott

Pinkypoopydoo I put a post on earlier tonight regarding a good supplier of flyers. I can also give you contact details for a very good but cheap web developer.

WantToBeSE

pinkypoopydoo wrote: »

That's brilliant, thankyou WantToBeSE! I actually think I've managed to pick up a regular 10 hours a week today (will know by the end of the week), which would be a boost towards claiming WTC etc, as 6-10 hours a week working on the business could easily be fitted around the 2 hours work a day, and the childrens school/nursery hours.

I've already got a basic template for a business plan from the BG website, so will take that with me on Monday too.

I am feeling a good deal more positive about work/life/everything today after hearing all this!

You're welcome Pinky, i must admit that i feel much more positive about it now.

As long as i get a regular client base within the first 4-6 weeks i know i can make this work.
I already have someone ready to use me for 4 hours a week, so it's just as case of advertising and getting people to spread the word
It's quite nerve racking knowing that it's all up to me, but also really exciting.

Is your meeting today? I hope you find it really useful, let us know how you got on!

sovilla

Can I ask what businesses you are setting up?

My partner has been speaking to the JC and had a couple of meetings with someone at a business centre about going on NEA. In May his JSA goes onto income based and he will not get anything due to my wage so we think its a good idea to try this scheme. He won't get the 1000 loan though as was bankrupt in 2010 and still has a poor credit rating.

He is wanting to setup as a photographer. He already has a very expensive camera and studio lights which he bought with his redundancy payment. He just needs a bit of cash for advertising and hiring out a room to do portrait shoots. I am web designer in my free time and have my own servers so can design and host his website for no cost. That side of the business is no problem and he does already have clients lined up

It's the other side of it that we are stuck on. Book keeping, registering with HMRC. We have 5 children and get tax credits and housing benefit so were not sure how this is going to work with his being self employed. I'm hoping that being on this scheme is going to help him in that regard. What he doesn't want is to be tied to the job centre and having to go in every week and prove he is trading because I'm not sure how that's going to work.

WantToBeSE

sovilla wrote: »

Can I ask what businesses you are setting up?

My partner has been speaking to the JC and had a couple of meetings with someone at a business centre about going on NEA. In May his JSA goes onto income based and he will not get anything due to my wage so we think its a good idea to try this scheme. He won't get the 1000 loan though as was bankrupt in 2010 and still has a poor credit rating.

He is wanting to setup as a photographer. He already has a very expensive camera and studio lights which he bought with his redundancy payment. He just needs a bit of cash for advertising and hiring out a room to do portrait shoots. I am web designer in my free time and have my own servers so can design and host his website for no cost. That side of the business is no problem and he does already have clients lined up

It's the other side of it that we are stuck on. Book keeping, registering with HMRC. We have 5 children and get tax credits and housing benefit so were not sure how this is going to work with his being self employed. I'm hoping that being on this scheme is going to help him in that regard. What he doesn't want is to be tied to the job centre and having to go in every week and prove he is trading because I'm not sure how that's going to work.

Hi Sovilla.

In regards to registering with the HMRC- i presume that he will be setting up as a sole trader, instead as a limited company? Everything you need to know is here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed/register-selfemp.htm

Bookkeeping- You could open a separate bank account for this ( i just opened an E-savings account, nothing special), and make sure that ALL expenditure/income is written down. You could do a spreadsheet for this, that links to the account.
I am planning on people paying me per week or month, straight into my account, that way the HMRC will be able to see that i am being paid.

You can look at my post a bit further up, that i posted yesterday, to see about Tax Credits. I too will be needing tax credits (at least to start with, i do have dreams of earning enough not to need them!), and that is all tied to how much you earn and how many hours you work.

From what i was told yesterday, you only need to go into the JC a couple of times within the 6 months that you get the NEA, and bring proof of your trading income and hours, so certainly not weekly/fortnightly or monthly.

Hope that helps a bit