From carer to self employed - Where to start

g4fne

Hi folks.

I have recently lost my wife after caring for her for 10years. I have been on carers allowance & all relevent benefits since. It has now been suggested that i claim for JSA.

I really dont want to go down JSA route if possible & starting to think about starting up a small gardening business on self employed basis. I have a few friends, friends of friends etc who have expressed interest in my services but not enough to work at it full time initially, though would be pushing to expand customer base asap.

I'm estimating £50pw income to begin. The problem i have is i have no idea who to ask what other (if any) help is available if take this opportunity on. I have never found my job centre overly knowledgable on this sort of thing.

Any suggestions welcomed.


nb : just me (age 40) & no dependants

BigAunty

Single people without dependents who are self employed and work more than 30 hours per week are entitled to working tax credits if their income is low.

See the HMRC site about the criteria for this, the type of evidence you need to keep to prove the hours you work, the way you can work out legitimate business time (including things like travel, marketing and so on, not just direct gardening time).

Those on low income may also qualify for housing benefit and council tax discount.

I recommend that you complete a business plan available at the Business Link website to get a full handle on the business. That site is very good for anyone considering self employment with info on tax, company formation, keeping records, marketing and so on.

You may find the small business forum on MSE to be helpful for hints and tips on how to set up in business and grow it.

rosered1963

Sorry for your loss OP.

If I am allowed to recommend a book to you - borrow or buy this one - it's brilliant and it covers so much. "Start and Run a Gardening Business: An Insider Guide to Setting Yourself Up as a Professional Gardener [Paperback]. by Paul Power. Very appropriate for you. Amazon has it.

My benefits knowledge is rusty but I would look into this in detail before you plunge in, to be honest, especially as you won't be able to live on your earnings initally (unless you have other income of-course)

Good luck

Dunroamin

g4fne wrote: »

Hi folks.

I have recently lost my wife after caring for her for 10years. I have been on carers allowance & all relevent benefits since. It has now been suggested that i claim for JSA.

I really dont want to go down JSA route if possible & starting to think about starting up a small gardening business on self employed basis. I have a few friends, friends of friends etc who have expressed interest in my services but not enough to work at it full time initially, though would be pushing to expand customer base asap.

I'm estimating £50pw income to begin. The problem i have is i have no idea who to ask what other (if any) help is available if take this opportunity on. I have never found my job centre overly knowledgable on this sort of thing.

Any suggestions welcomed.


nb : just me (age 40) & no dependants

Do you think that you're being overly pessimistic about the number of hours' work you'd get - 5 hours a week isn't very hopeful.

cattie

I'm very sorry for your loss and wish you success in your new venture. I'm sure once you begin, you'll get plenty of work, as people are always looking for good reliable people to work on their gardens. Word of mouth will usually bring in enough customers to keep you going.

Good luck!

g4fne

rosered1963 wrote: »

Sorry for your loss OP.

If I am allowed to recommend a book to you - borrow or buy this one - it's brilliant and it covers so much. "Start and Run a Gardening Business: An Insider Guide to Setting Yourself Up as a Professional Gardener [Paperback]. by Paul Power. Very appropriate for you. Amazon has it.

My benefits knowledge is rusty but I would look into this in detail before you plunge in, to be honest, especially as you won't be able to live on your earnings initally (unless you have other income of-course)

Good luck

Thankyou i have ordered the book this evening

Dunroamin wrote: »

Do you think that you're being overly pessimistic about the number of hours' work you'd get - 5 hours a week isn't very hopeful.

This is the amount i have at the moment from friends, friends. Once up & running i would hope for considerably more

rosered1963

Good luck g4fne.

I have dusted off my brain in case any of the following may be news to you - sorry if you know it already:

Apparently as a person with no dependents you could claim Working Tax credit if you were working 30 hours a week in self-employment. According to the HMRC website, activities to bring in work like marketing, leaflet dropping, knocking on doors, building a website, travelling to a job etc counts as hours worked towards your business.

If you go self-employed, you would pick your starting date and register as a "self-employed sole trader" with HMRC (easy to do) and keep an account book yourself. As a sole trader the Inland Revenue do not require you to have an accountant if you don't want to employ one.

You would pay class 2 National Insurance which is currently £2.65 per week. As you may expect your net profit to be low in your first year, you can apply not to pay the National Insurance by filling in a Small Earnings Exception form, (form CF10) if you believe your net profit will be below £5595 between your starting date and April 2013. However, this would mean your national insurance record would have a gap in it for that period.

I think for things like Council Tax Benefit on the grounds of low income, you would have to give the council an estimate of what your net profit would be in the coming months for them to base a benefit assessment on. I would have a look at your local council website to start off with to see who to ask about this.

Just one more thing: if you rent your house you might find you aren't allowed to run a business from your home address. As a home owner, you might have to check the terms of your insurance should you run a business from home.

Finally, even if you started with only 4 or 5 hours a week, once you get going you will pick up more clients, and depending on where you live of-course, the rates you charge will vary, but I would advise not selling yourself too cheaply to try and undercut others. - people don't value or respect cheap.

g4fne

thankyou for such a comprehensive response

rosered1963

You're welcome.
If I can help you with anything else, pm me. I am about to go self-employed myself, and year s ago I used to be a national insurance inspector, so i know a bit about the compliance side.
Best wishes
Rosered

Edinburghlass_2

Check Gumtree for advertising your trade, I'm looking for someone at the moment to tidy the garden and have found quite a few numbers on there that I will get a quote from.

g4fne

Edinburghlass wrote: »

Check Gumtree for advertising your trade, I'm looking for someone at the moment to tidy the garden and have found quite a few numbers on there that I will get a quote from.

Thankyou. Advert now placed