Term time, self employed and WTC....possible?

SHIRAZ

Dovah_diva wrote: »

Agreed. If I were paying someone to clean and iron for me, I want it done all year round - taking six weeks off during the summer means I am taking my business elsewhere.

There are a lot of these 'small business' ideas floating around now - especially since the rules changes re JSA. I am not entirely sure they are all genuine.

I have an agreement with someone who also does the same thing as me, we agree to cover each others holidays (clients are agreeable with this and we are both insured) but it's only ever 1 week or a few days, we have spoken about this at length before and both fail to see how this would be a genuine business.

clearingout

not sure if this will help but I'll give it a go!

I did some cover supervisor work a few years ago through an agency in schools. I obviously needed to work a minimum of 16 hours a week to get help with childcare (also a single parent) or I couldn't afford to work (childcare came to the same amount as I was paid per day before tax was deducted!).

Tax credits informed me that they look at 4 week blocks - so I would needed to have worked for an average of 16 hours a week across the block - so if it was 14 hours on week one and 18 hours on week 2, and 16 hours for weeks 3 and 4 that would still count as 16 hours for that 4 week period and I would get help with childcare.

From an education perspective, things were slightly skewed in that there is an acceptance of 'established working patterns'. In other words, it's wouldn't be my fault that I couldn't work during half term as a cover supervisor in schools because no schools were open to allow me to work (and it would be unlikely I could get an alternative job for a week, I guess). As such, it would be taken I worked 'enough' hours during school holidays.

This was from a long discussion with tax credits but obviously, it is something you would need to clarify with them how that works for you. I am assuming because cleaning is something that can be done every day of the week across the board, you may struggle to get that concession for the school holidays in the way you are hoping. But I could be wrong!

SHIRAZ

zagfles wrote: »

Depends who the customers are, eg if it's term-time workers such as teachers it might suit them, as they'd either be away in the school holidays, or at home with more time to do ironing/cleaning etc.

In my experience I find it to be the opposite, I have 3 teachers as my clients and they usually want me to do extra during the holidays as the kids are at home making more mess!! they want to go out for days here and there and want me to clean up whilst they are out for the day.and don't want to have to come home to a messy house and a pile of ironing needing done,

azmilligan71

Yes it is a GENUINE business plan and find it quite offensive when suggested otherwise this site is for advice not to be judged......as a self employed person you can get other people to do your work,my clients would be more than happy to have someone else do their cleaning etc during holidays I cannot as long as they do the job to my standards and I can increase my ironing side of business during holidays and do books etc !!!

SHIRAZ wrote: »

I do this kind of work at present and can't understand how it wold be viable to take so much time off!! my customers would also look else where if I was away from work for several weeks at a time, makes very little sense to me to do this and to be honest don't believe it's a genuine business but a dodge of some sort if you can be a single parent, earn close to minimum wage but afford to be off work for many weeks of the year...

SHIRAZ

azmilligan71 wrote: »

Yes it is a GENUINE business plan and find it quite offensive when suggested otherwise this site is for advice not to be judged......as a self employed person you can get other people to do your work,my clients would be more than happy to have someone else do their cleaning etc during holidays I cannot as long as they do the job to my standards and I can increase my ironing side of business during holidays and do books etc !!!

you find it offensive, I find it realistic, why employ a cleaner who is going to be off for weeks at a time?! makes no sense and if your increasing the ironing then your still working and not doing term time...

Spendless

If I had a cleaner or someone to do the ironing I certainly would expect them to take holidays. I'd expect it to be on a par with what employed people get, which is usually between 20 to 25 days, so would expect 4-5 weeks per year when cleaner was on hol, but certainly not every school holiday. I wouldn't be happy with that.

DaisyFlower

SHIRAZ wrote: »

you find it offensive, I find it realistic, why employ a cleaner who is going to be off for weeks at a time?! makes no sense and if your increasing the ironing then your still working and not doing term time...

The number of people going self employed to avoid JSA is on the rise.

UC will ensure that only viable businesses can claim as they will assume NMW is being made per hour rather than a business that makes little yet does enough hours to claim WTC.

Whilst not using a cleaner or ironing service, i certainly wouldnt use one that closed down during all school hols. Thats 13 weeks a year!

butler_helen

DaisyFlower wrote: »

The number of people going self employed to avoid JSA is on the rise.

UC will ensure that only viable businesses can claim as they will assume NMW is being made per hour rather than a business that makes little yet does enough hours to claim WTC.

Whilst not using a cleaner or ironing service, i certainly wouldnt use one that closed down during all school hols. Thats 13 weeks a year!

We have had cleaners before and trust is important. Unless you can guarantee me the same one for all but c4wks of the year I would go elsewhere. Inevitably some are better than others and at c£20 an hour here, I want continuity and the same standards all the time (we had one lady who was amazing but her replacement during her holidays was shocking. I started cancelling in her holidays and left all together when she did). So I would think carefully before taking 13wks off.

FBaby

as a self employed person you can get other people to do your work,my clients would be more than happy to have someone else do their cleaning etc during holidays

But aren't you worried that if they are so happy with another cleaner, they might then decide to stick with them rather than going back to you?

[Deleted User]

Thanks for all your replies, finally had some time to catch up.

Maybe I should have clarified, but IF I do the term time thing, I was planning on marketing teachers and those on term time contracts themselves. Several teachers actually don't want help in the holidays and have specified that. I am not trying to dodge anything, merely trying to recover from a husband who has left me in a difficult predicament and 2 children to look after. I am merely examining all my options so I can make an informed decision.

I do think some people are very quick to jump down others throats and get on their high horse rather than making helpful suggestions or information.

Thanks to all those who haven't judged and provided useful bits of help.

I have spoken to WTC today who told me they havent come across this situation before but I would have to divide my yearly hours by 39 weeks and then work those hours to still claim WTC. Isn't that different to what someone else said above.

I've been thinking about this all day and my head is started to get confused.