New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

biggeorge007

Hi all, Just been through the whole 48 pages and I'm getting worried now.
Just had my business plan passed and loan forms filled in, dropping those off tomorrow in person.

Do you have to sign off before getting the loan? as my business is a no starter without the loan as I need some dry lining doing in the cellar which is been done on the cheap (DIY) since the quotes were too high for the pros to do it.
Will not be able to trade until the workshop is completed, dry lining and some new electricity points adding in.

Also my JCP adviser has been a pain over the amount of time I have been sorting out this NEA, suppose to be 10 weeks and think I have now gone 14 weeks, Some silly mistakes on the business plan and SF that my mentor also missed.
Can she make me sign off JSA next week onto the NEA even though I am nowhere near ready to start trading.

George

TrueBlue1965

biggeorge007, no JCP cannot push you in to starting NEA until your ready. Having your business plan signed off by your provider does not mean that you have to sign off JSA and start NEA at once. The only thing you have to do is keep on actively seeking work. Lots of things you can be doing towards starting trading to keep JCP happy which is classed as actively seeking work. Applying for the NEA loan is actively seeking work for a start!

No you cannot get the NEA loan until you have signed off JSA and signed up to NEA.

Im guessing your dropping your loan forms off at your NEA provider. They will scan the forms and send them to the loan provider to be processed. The next step will be for your loan provider to agree your loan or ask for more info. If excepted. They will send you a loan agreement. You sign your loan agreement and send it back to the loan company. This should take a couple of weeks. If longer. Start phoning the loan company to find out what the issues are. I had to chase my loan company every step of the way to get each step completed. However, I was one of the first to get the new NEA higher loan. Hopefully, things have got better with processing the loan.

Once the loan agreement has been signed and sent back to the loan company. You then sign off JSA and sign up for NEA. The loan company will send a fax to JCP to confirm that you have signed on to NEA. JCP respond to the fax. Then your loan is then paid within a few days. The whole process should take no longer than 3 weeks.

Because you have to sign off JSA and signed up to NEA before the loan is paid. The timing of signing off JSA is very importent. Without the loan many people cannot start trading or building there business. If your not trading. Yur not able to be on NEA or claim the other benefits. Its a catch 22 situation! So, JCP have no choice but to except that you have to wait a couple of weeks until the loan is agreed before signing off JSA and signing up to NEA.

Building your workshop is working on your business as fare as NEA, Housing Benefit and Tax credits are concerned. Just show those costs in your books to show that your building your business and you should not have any problems.

biggeorge007

TrueBlue 1965, Thanks for the reply you cleared some things up for me.

Seems a little bit of a silly way of operating the loan service when those who require it for building work can't trade until work is completed.

So it sounds like I will have to get the loan approved then sign off JSA onto the NEA and not trade until I complete some building work (dry lining a cellar). Since the building work is classed as work I should be fine just no income from the business till workshop ready.

Time to study " how to fit dry lining " although a quick look I had before it seems pretty straight forward job.

George

treenie01

Eastendborn you sound like you're in a similar situation to me. Are you a qualified teacher?

I do one day a week supply just to bring in some regular income to supplement me recruiting new students.

Also what do you teach? Depending on what you teach will depend how you will recruit new students. I'm a music teacher so a lot for me is word of mouth or going round music shops putting adverts up (which is not easy as many of them have their own teachers).

s450

Hi guys.
Some time has passed since I last wrote here.
I really do not know what is happening to my NEA payments.
As I said, I do not even know exactly when the JC signe me off. They themselve cannot give me a proper answer. First they said it was on th 27th January, then they said it was the 31st January indeed.
Anyway, I haven't sort out this problem yet.
Some money has arrived but it is not the NEA but the JSA and nevertheless the sums I received do not make any logics to me.
Let's assume I was singned off the 27th January. The 29th I could see on my account a JSA payment of 66 pounds. It could have been the last payment but for which period exactly? From which day to wich day?
Today, 10th February (12 days after that) I can see again a JSA payment of 61.46 pounds.
Many are the questions which arise and disturb my logical thinking.
1) It is evidently a JSA payment and not a NEA because in the payment it is clearly stated that it is a JSA payment.
2) NEA woud have to be 65
3) why 61.46?
4) Why this money at all and, again, which period of time does this payment cover??!
5) We are still assuming I was signed off on 27th January
I just do not see any logics and I am wondering what is happening.
I rang the08456... hotline number. They could not help me. They said, I should call the NEA. The NEA??? What number?

What happens?
I think, I have to go to my local JC again and talk to somebody who has more gray matter in his/her head.

D4VE

Just an update on how I've been getting on.

I had my 'How to do a Business Plan' session (was well presented and informative, even though I'd already completed mine) and they made an appointment for me to see someone with my completed BP.

I arrived to be told no one was there (empty office !).

I got the persons email address from the person who hosted the BP session, and emailed them, to let them know I had attended in case I had been mis-informed by the security guard on reception.

They replied that they'd put me down for the following day by mistake ! and could I attend then. I said "No", and suggested rather than wasting more of my time, I'd email my BP, which I did.

I'd not heard anything, so emailed again, asking for any suggestions/alterations, but they said they'd made another appointment and would discuss it then. Why they couldn't give me the details BEFORE this meeting, I don't know - If any changes are required, I could do now and take the revised one to the meeting.

I did make a sarcastic comment to JCP when they asked how I was getting on, about the above problems, and stated that if the NEA company wasn't funded by the Govt., I doubt they'd be in business very long.

One question I do have is regarding this HB situation.

Do they take the company profits into consideration, or my drawings from the company ?

There are 2 scenarios for this :
1) I take a small 'salary' and the company makes more profit (or less loss).
2) I take a large 'salary' and the company makes less profit (or bigger loss).

If HB want my personal income, I'd tell them 1), but if they wanted the company profit I'd tell them 2)

Andy2013

D4VE to my knowledge however much salary you take from any profit you make is irrelevant , you make money from your business ( Turnover) and after expenses and stock etc you end up with Net profit and that is then the figure that HB will use to work out how much HB to pay.

You tell them Net Profit, regardless as to salary taken out.

Whether you take £200 or £500 out of the net profit as salary makes no difference , as salary ( to my knowledge ) is a personal expense not a business related expense and can not be used to reduce Net profit , so if you make £1000 a month profit that's what they use, even if you reduce it to half by taking a salary, otherwise people would just increase there salary each month to stay under the threshold for HB.

This link is handy , half way down it mentions not allowing " drawings" which is what I have said above.
http://www.nihe.gov.uk/index/benefits/housingbenefit/housing_benefit_advice/self-employed.htm

s450

Could somebody with a bit more of experience about all this stuff explain to me what is going on with my NEA?
And, when you get a NEA payment, how often do they pay and what should be written in the transaction on you bank account?

What happens with HB? Is there a run-on?
If I login into my Profile at the Council I can see in the section of my Claim that nothing has changed and that the next HB payment should take place next week

Andy2013

s450 just go into your job centre and see if they can help, no one on here can give a true answer, it can be a number of things but any answer would be a guess , the payments system is a minefield .

The JC or the JC helpline has to know , they paid the money !!

Don't accept BS they HAVE to know !!

If its an NEA payment it will simply be £65 for a weekly payment or £130 if they pay you fortnightly , different places vary so again no definite answer as to how often.

If you have received a random amount it is possible that the change over from JSA to NEA is happening , but only the JC will know for sure.

s450

Thanks!
Yes, I really need to go there personally.
:mad:

Let's see.