Can I claim benefits as a Ltd Company Director

engsnayl_2

Hi guys, would love some advice if anybody out there can help?

Basically I have my own Limited Company of which I'm a Director.

There are no employees, just me and for the most part I work from home and the business has no capital or assets to speak of and I have no savings or assets myself apart from a very modest car.

Business has been very tough for a while and I have not been able to make any sales or pay myself anything at all now for about 3 months.

Would I be eligible to claim benefits in the meantime whilst I'm trying to get myself back on my feet?

As I rent my property I would be most interested in Housing Benefit I suppose as that would be the biggest helping hand for me right now.

Other options would be JSA of course, but would that be appropriate and again would I be eligible?

Any help or advice would be great.

Thanks very much.

rogerblack

Yes, but, it's complicated.
Firstly - do 'no assets to speak of' - exceed 6K, in addition to your personal savings and assets.
You can claim CTB/HB/LHA if your earnings are low.
(this is complicated in your case, but fundamentally possible).

You can claim JSA only if you are available for fulltime work.
Clearly, this would be questionable in your case.
Working tax credit may also be a possibility, though proving that your buisness has some chance of success, and that you are in fact putting in the hours may be tricky.

engsnayl_2

Thanks Roger, yes mine and the companies assets are way below £6k

Well I suppose that I would be available for Full time work and would certainly consider taking a job.

It would be fair to suggest that I would want to continue to try to make the business work on the side, maybe as a part time endeavour.

BigAunty

Your local council may publish info on their website which says the kinds of info they require from the self employed to help calculate housing benefit entitlement. Does it?

You can enter your income into the Turn2us online benefit calculator and this will help identify if you are entitled to housing benefit (if a tenant), working tax credits (if your income is low enough and if you are single/without dependents/without disabilities, that you work at least 30 hours per week) and council tax benefit.