self employed to benefits

speaher22

i am currently recovering from a nervous breakdown, which reached the peak when i tried to take my life some months ago.

there were several factors which lead up to this but one of the main ones was my financial situation, i ran my own business but hit hard times, which meant that some bills went unpaid, and my head went straight in the sand, so to speak, and by the time i went to deal with the situations it was a complete mess.

as a result,i now have a CPN and the advice that the CAB were able to offer me( as they couldnt officially help me as i am self employed) was to go back onto benefits for the time been until i fully recover, so that i can get my rent/council tax paid for the time being

but to be honest i really feel like a failure for going onto benefits, even though time off to recover is important

im unsure what to do next whilst i recover,

please any advice

ani_26

Apply for ESA, DLA, housing benefit, council tax benefit and pray?


If you are in receipt of working tax credit, let them know immediately, you have ceased work through sickness. Go to your Gp and make sure you obtain a sick note, ( or fit note.) Enlist some professional help to complete the reams and reams of forms you will have to complete.

Most importantly, you need time to recover, so try not to feel guilty.

Feel free to pm me. x

speaher22

thanks for the reply

how do i start to claim, do i ask my CPN for help for forms or do i do it myself, the CAB say the only way they can officially help me is if i were on benefits(something to do with their funding)

what do i do about my WFTC as i am registered as self employed

any guidance towards a starting point world be greatly appreciated

epitome

First off, you need to be sure your Dr will support you with sicknotes ongoing for as long as it takes, this wil definately be for 4 months and then beyond that as you will probably have to appeal to stay on ESA.

Once you have passed the above you should phone
08000 556688
option 1, option 1
open Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm

You should also pay all your National Insurance up to date. But they will only look at your national insurance for tax years 9/10 & 10/11 to make the claim.

DLA is applied for by asking for the forms to be sent to you. You can do this on the same phone call.

Assuming you have no partner and no savings of more than £16,000 you should apply for ESA Income Related.

If you rent you should apply for HBenefit directly from the council using their forms, if you have a council tax bill, you also claim CTBenefit from your council.
If you mortgage, you will get help from ESA for the mortgage after a 3 months.