not employed but working

hostertlady

i do some cleaning and i get paid cash in hand, between £50 - £60 per week, i am not on any benefits or claiming anything so i am not doing anything illegal or anything and i am just plodding along with my life but now i want to do something else and have got an application form to fill in for a social care job. i am very excited at this opportunity but my question is?

what do i put on the application form when they ask about previous employer?? i am not actually employed am i?
i dont want to look lazy by putting my previous job which was years ago, how can i word it to make me not appear to be a lazy lump!
thank you

hostertlady

i was thinking that and i know she will give me a glowing reference. to be honest i love my now job but i dont get to 'mix' much with other people,
if i put her down as employer should i put a covering letter in with my application form as they are bound to ask for last p60 or whatever they ask for now? otherwise it looks as if i haven't work for ages.. and i would hate that as i have always worked since i was 15 and just did odd cleaning jobs while the children were growing up.

Savvy_Sue

You could say that you have been self-employed for the last x years. Technically you should have registered as self-employed with HMRC, and it might be worth phoning your local office to ask for advice - you can usually do this without giving your name and I've found them VERY helpful and approachable. You might need to fill in tax returns, but honestly, it's not as scary as it sounds. And they might say you will be fined for not declaring yourself self-employed but again, they often waive this for small concerns like yours, especially as you're now giving up being self-employed.

If you had been employed, you'd have a P45 to give your new employer. But if you don't have one of them, your new employer should give you a P46, which you complete to say this is your only or main job.

hostertlady

now i am getting worried.. if i phone the inland revenue and say i have been doing this cleaning job will i get in trouble? will they ask me for backdated NI contributions? etc

astonsmummy

Hi
TBH if i were you i would put it down on the application form then explain the situation of the job when you go for an interview, they would interview you before getting the reference anyways.

camper

You are not earning enough to pay NI or tax, so no worries there.

Good luck with the application.

Savvy_Sue

hostertlady wrote: »

now i am getting worried.. if i phone the inland revenue and say i have been doing this cleaning job will i get in trouble? will they ask me for backdated NI contributions? etc

They might say that you should have filled in a form to say you weren't earning enough to pay NI, because technically you are supposed to fill it in before you don't pay them, rather than just not pay them, but I do not think they will make you pay them. Please try to stop worrying and phone them: as I said before you don't have to give your name initially, and I have always found them very helpful. You KNOW your earnings were below the tax threshold, you were not claiming benefits, and yes you should have registered. They throw the book at people who deliberately avoid paying taxes, not at people who didn't need to pay any ...

hostertlady

thanks everyone, i have just phoned the tax office and explained situation to them and they said it is best to register as self employed and the NI will be £2.10 a week on what i earn but it will be based on the gross at the end of the year and the total amount i earn.. then i might/might not need to fill in self assessment thing,, it sounds complicated to me! soooo the new job that i want to apply for (employed by local authority) i would tell them i was self employed then would I?
to be honest I dont think the lady i clean for would want to be on the forms as a 'previous employer'... would it look bad on my application form if i just put my previous previous employer which was 2000. it would save all the hassle..
sorry to go on and on.

Savvy_Sue

Ask the lady you clean for if she's prepared to give you a reference (unless you don't want her to know you're leaving - or are you going to carry on doing both?)

You don't have to put her on the form as an employer if you're saying you're self-employed. But you can still use her as a referee if she's willing.

Also there's one kind of NI contributions you don't have to pay if your income is below a certain amount - you fill in a form to say your earnings aren't expected to exceed £X - and the other sort are only due on your profits over a larger amount. It would be worth asking about that because I've never found self-employed NI payments to be 'worth' anything if you need to claim JSA or anything like that!

hostertlady

i agree about the NI contributions not being 'worth' anything and it is only me that will lose out if i am not up to date with them anyway..
yep my lovely lady knows i want to do this and is going to be my referee so no worries there, thank you all so much for your help x

hostertlady

me again, just to let you know how i've got on. I filled in the application and put my lady down as employer and referee and i sent it off. Today i received a letter from them calling me in for an interview, yippee... now i just have to master my interview skills!! not had one for many many years....
what i want to ask is.. when i walk in the room do i shake anyones hand? silly question but it's puzzling me...