Am I "entitled" to any benefits?

Sinisterzane

Hi all,

I have been a self employed sole trader electrician for the last 8 years. In October 2012 I lost the main contract I had for the previous 7 years.

Since then its been one hell of a struggle and at best I would say after business expenses I am clearing about £4000 a year maximum!

I have basically been battering my savings and borrowing and begging from family and friends to pay the mortgage etc.

My wife is on DLA and Incapacity benefit and receives £151.00 per week for both benefits combined

Our mortgage it £744.00 per month.

My wife pays the council tax and gets a reduction (think its 25%)

I went into the job centre today for the first time in 20 years to see if I was entitled to anything and they said I "might" be entitled to job seekers allowance but until I put the claim in I wont actually know...

I told them effectively I am still working be it only 10 hours or so a week and they said I could still be eligable for benefit? This I dont follow as in the old days if you were self employed you wouldnt get anything as they couldnt determine if its a down turn in business etc.

I cant quite grasp the scenario of myself pulling up outside the job centre in my van, walking in in work gear then signing on then I could in effect tell them I have to be quick as ive got a job to do at ##:## hours!

Do you think going on the above information as a married man with no children and about £3000 savings between us I might be eligable for help and possible help with paying the mortgage?

Thanks in advance

tonyciclo

Sinisterzane wrote: »

Hi all,

I have been a self employed sole trader electrician for the last 8 years. In October 2012 I lost the main contract I had for the previous 7 years.

Since then its been one hell of a struggle and at best I would say after business expenses I am clearing about £4000 a year maximum!

I have basically been battering my savings and borrowing and begging from family and friends to pay the mortgage etc.

My wife is on DLA and Incapacity benefit and receives £151.00 per week for both benefits combined

Our mortgage it £744.00 per month.

My wife pays the council tax and gets a reduction (think its 25%)

I went into the job centre today for the first time in 20 years to see if I was entitled to anything and they said I "might" be entitled to job seekers allowance but until I put the claim in I wont actually know...

I told them effectively I am still working be it only 10 hours or so a week and they said I could still be eligable for benefit? This I dont follow as in the old days if you were self employed you wouldnt get anything as they couldnt determine if its a down turn in business etc.

I cant quite grasp the scenario of myself pulling up outside the job centre in my van, walking in in work gear then signing on then I could in effect tell them I have to be quick as ive got a job to do at ##:## hours!

Do you think going on the above information as a married man with no children and about £3000 savings between us I might be eligable for help and possible help with paying the mortgage?

Thanks in advance

Given all of that info, you have every chance of being able to claim Income Related JSA as well as the interest on a mortgage of up to £200,000.

Put a claim in to find out.

Mind you I'm waiting to see if the 'benefit warriors' put their heads up with this thread. They have a habit of proclaiming that people should work in more than one job instead of claiming benefits. Let's see what happens.

davehughes182

You may be eligible. Best thing to do would be to check out an online calculator. I know of the Turn2Us one but not sure how good it is personally.

pmlindyloo

If you put in a claim for Income based JSA then any earnings you make will be deducted from your JSA (except a disregard of £5 per week.)

Depending on your earnings you may not receive any money although you may still receive NI credits. The downside is that you would be expected to adhere to the Job Seekers regulations. I do not believe that you can claim SMI if you are only receiving NI credits but hope that I am wrong.

SMI will only pay the interest on your mortgage and not for 13 weeks after your claim so you should be having a chat with your lender to ask for some options - longer term/payment holiday for example.

If you cannot get SMI it might be worth considering claiming working tax credits instead. As your wife is receiving IB then it is possible that you would only have to work 16 hours a week to be eligible for working tax credits.

This would probably be the easier route to take especially if you feel that you have a good chance of getting more clients.

The 16 hours can include marketing etc etc so you may meet the criteria.

I will find a couple of links for you about tax credits and being self employed.

BigAunty

Working tax credits if you work 30 hours or more per week (includes time for admin,marketing, accounts, travel)? EDIT - possible lower hours threshold perhaps due to disability in the household - check the criteria here.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/start/who-qualifies/workingtaxcredit/

Carers Allowance if your wife has a certain level of DLA that would make you eligible for it? You can earn up to £100 a week after tax so long as you are entitled to it.

https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance

pmlindyloo

Here's a link:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/start/claiming/income-hours/work-out-hours.

I think your wife would be regarded as 'incapacitated' (awful word) and therefore you would only have to work 16 hours a week.

The link also gives a list of the kind of things that you can include on the hours.

Sinisterzane

I filled in the JSA online form earlier and have an apointment on Friday morning..the trouble is I put "no" in the section regarding my wifes benefits so ive screwed it up...I then tried phoning them and was told when someone contacts me I can amend it then...10mins later I got a text message with the apointment time so im a bit stuck as I dont want to attend the meeting until they have all the info in front of them...

This all seems a very complex process i.e the different benefits....tax credits...carers allowance etc. Is there not a one stop place where they can tell me what I am and arnt entitled to? I am asuming there are companies that specialise in this area to see to the needs of our over seas residents?

Thanks

StormyWeather_2

You could try your local CAB office for advice.

Go to the appointment, if you don't you could be sanctioned. Tell them about your circumstances and your wife's benefits then.

If you claim JSA you have to complete the actions as set out in your job seekers agreement and attend the job centre every 2 weeks. Your advisor should complete the agreement on your first visit.

If you only need to work 16 hours to get tax credits, wouldn't it be better to find a part time job? Two bar shifts would be enough. Visiting the job centre, actively seeking work, meeting the conditions will use more time each week.

ArtoDeeto

Sinisterzane wrote: »

I told them effectively I am still working be it only 10 hours or so a week and they said I could still be eligable for benefit?

I cant quite grasp the scenario of myself pulling up outside the job centre in my van, walking in in work gear then signing on then I could in effect tell them I have to be quick as ive got a job to do at ##:## hours!

Do you think going on the above information as a married man with no children and about £3000 savings between us I might be eligable for help and possible help with paying the mortgage?

Thanks in advance

Under 16 hours you can claim Jobseekers.
Basically you will need to declare your work/payments and it will be deducted from JSA less a retainer.

Just make the claim and find out...

PS: as regards the mortgage probably not so good : 3 month waiver and interest only (capped) after that

Sinisterzane wrote: »

I filled in the JSA online form earlier and have an apointment on Friday morning..the trouble is I put "no" in the section regarding my wifes benefits so ive screwed it up...

Just tell them when you go in and they can change the claim submission

Charley3_2

Depending on the severity of your wife's condition she may be entitled to Disability Living Allowance if she has care needs or mobility difficulties. This would then enable you to claim Carers Allowance if you are earning less than £100 per week. You may also be entitled to Council Tax Benefit and possibly Working Tax Credit.

Poppie68

Charley3 wrote: »

Depending on the severity of your wife's condition she may be entitled to Disability Living Allowance if she has care needs or mobility difficulties. This would then enable you to claim Carers Allowance if you are earning less than £100 per week. You may also be entitled to Council Tax Benefit and possibly Working Tax Credit.

The op has stated in his first post his wife already claims DLA and IB.