Universal Credits - Self Employed

MissMoneypenny

samasama wrote: »

Hopefully UC won't treat maintenance as income, that would seriously penalise children.

I don't think UC wiill do that. With all the dead beat dads who didn't pay their maintenance or didn't pay maintenance on time, it was safer for the mother to use benefits for the children, but this meant the dead beat parents got away with paying nothing towards their own children. Now they let the mother keep any maintenance they get; on top of their benefits; which means the dead beat parents are being forced to pay something towards their childrens keep.

Try to work towards keeping yourself and your children without the need for much benefits, as this will boost your self confidence and help you deal with your ex.

You have already had someone help you by sending you ex's payslip to your house which gave details of his massive payrise, so people are on your side. Perhaps use the marriages board and CSA board for support; although be warned that the CSA board does have a few deadbeat dads hang around there (where's the little finger icon?).

JoshuaJames

samasama wrote: »

Back to normal after my earlier tantrum LOL.

A couple of other questions …

What happens if a self-employed person is ill? I'm due a major op - I won't be able to work for at least 4 weeks, probably longer. During that time my average hours will drop and my income will disappear (fortunately my customers are willing to plan their needs around it and not find someone else). As the self-employed don’t benefit from sick pay, it made me wonder how UC will react if your circumstances vary month-to-month? For instance:
month 1 : 35 hrs pw
month 2 : ill - 0 hrs
month 3 : recovering - average 20hrs pw
month 4 : 35hrs again
How flexible is the system? Everything I've read seems to imply it assumes regular patterns of working. How quick will it reaction to a change of circumstances - and if it replaces ESA, how does the system trigger the ATOS interrogation and how does it treat temporary but serious ill-health. Obviously employed people have the luxury of sick pay, do we lose everything?


Also – how does UC treat child maintenance? My ex pays as and when he feels like it and only on the understanding that I prove the money went on the kids (I literally have to give him receipts!). Will child maintenance become “income” or still be disregarded?

Self-employed people usually have a good idea of how the business is doing, then give their paperwork to a bookkeeper or accountant at the end of the year to do their accounts. Lots of them don't have time to do it themselves (or the know-how). Their costs are going to increase because they'll need monthly reports back - and anyone who's dealt with an accountant knows it can take months to get them to deal with your paperwork - so expecting them to give you a monthly report in a matter of days is just laughable. The additional paperwork burden for the self-employed will be huge - and even accountants' groups have said it's not feasible (despite the fact they will be the big winners!).

Is it getting to the point where when UC comes in not so many will be able to afford to be self employed unless they work full time?

Lets be honest, so many self employed today can only afford not to be working full time because of governments top ups.

Greenfingers12

coffeelover65 wrote: »

Universal Credit won't be paid where the household (cust and partner) have savings over £16K, so I'm not sure what would happen in your case when its time to move across to UC.

Please could I ask a question about the above quote.

At the present time WFTC is paid as an entitlement regardless of savings.

The new UC will include WFTC as well as other benefits.

Are you saying that WFTC will become a benefit under the new system and will only be paid to households with savings of less than £16K ?

If so could you please provide a link to this change of policy ?

I thought WFTC was set up as an incentive to people to go out and get a low paid job rather than claim benefits and stay at home ?

Icequeen99

Greenfingers12 wrote: »

Please could I ask a question about the above quote.

At the present time WFTC is paid as an entitlement regardless of savings.

The new UC will include WFTC as well as other benefits.

Are you saying that WFTC will become a benefit under the new system and will only be paid to households with savings of less than £16K ?

If so could you please provide a link to this change of policy ?

I thought WFTC was set up as an incentive to people to go out and get a low paid job rather than claim benefits and stay at home ?

UC will replace tax credits, it won't include them. So the rules for qualification for UC will be set with a capital limit.

See http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/ucpbn-3-capital.pdf

As it notes, some people in tax credits will get transitional protection so should be protected against the change BUT you only get this protection if you move to UC because HMRC move you rather than due to a change of circumstances. A lot of people will move due to changes. Secondly, you will only keep transitional protection until you have a change of circs that would end it.

IQ

BigAunty

Greenfingers12 wrote: »

...

Are you saying that WFTC will become a benefit under the new system and will only be paid to households with savings of less than £16K ?

...

I thought WFTC was set up as an incentive to people to go out and get a low paid job rather than claim benefits and stay at home ?

Yes, under UC, all tax credits are scrapped and tax credits had a quirk where they were based on income and ignored capital. UC will be means tested, including capital, in the same way that benefits like Income Support, Council tax and Housing Benefit now is.

Problem is that payment in tax credits exceeds the cost of the whole of the UKs education system, for example, and more is paid out in benefits/allowances than is paid into the system through income tax receipts, something that was once a blip in the past during a recession but is now set to be the norm. It makes sense to stop paying benefits to people who have large savings or buy-to-let landlords with equity in their second property, for example.

JoshuaJames

BigAunty wrote: »

Yes, under UC, all tax credits are scrapped and tax credits had a quirk where they were based on income and ignored capital. UC will be means tested, including capital, in the same way that benefits like Income Support, Council tax and Housing Benefit now is.

Problem is that payment in tax credits exceeds the cost of the whole of the UKs education system, for example, and more is paid out in benefits/allowances than is paid into the system through income tax receipts, something that was once a blip in the past during a recession but is now set to be the norm. It makes sense to stop paying benefits to people who have large savings or buy-to-let landlords with equity in their second property, for example.

I never thought of that, so these super rich landlords and all can get tax credits?

Its going to be a good thing to put an end to that.

When is the start of UC again?

[Deleted User]

Transitional Protection

Well can anyone tell me what the change of circumstances includes, so what if you only inform them of the change at the end of the year? Because clearly you can do this as long as you are prepared to repay or get paid what is due due to the change, right?

Icequeen99

assj wrote: »

Transitional Protection

Well can anyone tell me what the change of circumstances includes, so what if you only inform them of the change at the end of the year? Because clearly you can do this as long as you are prepared to repay or get paid what is due due to the change, right?

They haven't said what the list of changes will be that trigger migration. But even if you wait until the end of the year to tell them, you still are reporting a change that will then trigger migration and lose your TP. It is just you will move later than you would have done.

And most changes you can't wait until the end of the year. You only have 1 month, so far HMRC haven't used penalties but they have the power to do so if you don't report so it wouldn't just be repaying the money you could be hit with a penalty.

The only option would be to not report the change at all (which you could with positive changes e.g. birth of a child) and then wait to be manage migrated but you would miss out on the second child's money and then probably immediately lose TP.

I can't see a way around it so far. Other than to not have any changes!

IQ

Pedent

Icequeen99 wrote: »

I can't see a way around it so far. Other than to not have any changes!

This does seem to be a major problem with Universal Credit.

A family could undergo a change in circumstances that increases their need for support and so would previously have led to an increased award (e.g. a pay cut, or the birth of a child), and as a result will see their transitional protection removed and their award reduced.

Another family might reasonably turn down extra hours at work in order to ensure that their circumstances remain the same and their transitional protection remains intact, preventing a fall in income.

I'd much rather see transitional protection phased out over time and at the same rate for everyone than have the big winners and big losers that it looks like we're going to have.

MissMoneypenny

Pedent wrote: »

Another family might reasonably turn down extra hours at work in order to ensure that their circumstances remain the same and their transitional protection remains intact, preventing a fall in income.

Under UC, parents will have to meet certain income requirements or face UC conditions: as jobseekers do now. I assume this would mean that some would have the choice of either having to do all the things job seekers are forced to do, or they increase their hours to meet their required income under UC and lose TP?

Am I missing something here: wouldn't it just be better if parents met the required income before UC comes in then they could keep any TP? Or is that too simple?