Becoming a company director and claiming benefits? Advice please??

cheekyfunkster

Hi there
I have become very confused as I spoke to the tax credit line, HMRC newly self emplpyed and 3 different councils and all gave me different response or non commital - would be very grateful for any constructive feedback from anyone that can help.
I got re-structured from my job and having unsuccesfuly tried to change career in 2010 through further postgrad study have now been too far removed from industry to return to my old work and not having much luck at job interviews - i am fed up with this situation so would like to create change - i am however currently claiming JSA and HB as I dont come from a privileged background (far from it defy statistics) and dont have any family or people I can live with in London. My landlady has announced she is selling so I need to find somewhere new to live and dont fancy my chances without employer and/or being free-lance/self employed. I would like to find out what the best situation is given the upcoming changes in April and my circumstances. If anyone can answer any or part of these questions or pm me privately would be very grateful.
1) If I am to receive WTC can I do this if am self employed but when I submitt my form if I have only been set up recently before the tax year goes it is unlikely I will have much income how does this work?
2) Does WTC depend on the structure that I opt for i.e if am self employed as a sole trader versus a Director in a Ltd?
3) If i do both 2) and also work part-time am I still elligible assuming that both projects and the financial account data for both are low estimates can I still get WTC and therefore HB?
4) If i just work on my own business as opposed to also seeking part-time work can i get HB? I was led to believe you can get this if you're on a low income but no one seems to tell me how this is estimated....

5)The tax people said that to get tax credits you need to have acombined total of more than 30 houts self employed but not sure what kind ofproof they need to show this?
6) If I am a directorof a Ltd some posts seem to suggest I can oay myself a salary from that or in dividends but there are conflucting posts as to whether or not this is compatible with HB application and it would appear that if am self employed the NI is lower so cheaper to be so as you get£2.65 a week, confusingly though you can also be a sole trader in partnershipand apparenty LTD and Limited Liability partnership are different and am really confused as to whats best.....what is the situation for example for a CIC Legal model or social enterprise?
7) Assuming I want to get WTC before the cap in April and become both self employed for one project OR company director and register at companies house with whole team of people etc but financial/profit loss earning for the yearisn’t much can I get housing benefit or must I be self employed with NMW? I know there are plenty of people in start-ups but almost all have accomodation already sorted out through parents or owning it and I think the best thing for me would be to work part-time and then create team/startup as I kow this can lead to more job creation for others and I also know my sole trader idea could be done online and esily but I dont know how this is possible if I cant get some initial support for housing.....
One of the posts above seemed to say that if you're not making money you wont get WTC and thereby no HB so can someone please help? I am trying my best to figure out how I can get out of this and I really need advice, many thanks!