Not sure of my options?

niftythrifty33

Thanks in advance for any help...

I will be out of work very soon as my contract is being terminated due to issues at work (cant discuss here) which is a mutual agreement.

I have been off sick for a while and have another 2 weeks sick note. At present I see my options as either:

1. Sign on the dole (or whatever its called now)
2. Sign on as sick
3. Start a small self employed cleaning business

I'm married (Dh works full time) with children at home. There are no jobs where I live as it's rural. My preferred option is No.3 but this will take time to set up and start having an income. I don't fancy No.2 as I do feel well enough to work just not in current job. We currently get £34 per week child tax credits.

I would be grateful for any advice, thank you

BigAunty

If you are being dismissed from your job or resign from it, you may find you are sanctioned by the job centre for up to 26 weeks. Is it just merely the end of the your contract?

For option 3, do some research into working tax credits which are payable to the self employed and produce a business plan (if you are under 30 you might find an organisation like the Princes Trust will help, or similar). Your husband's income will be taken into account.

A business plan is not a requirement to get WTC but we see lots of people on this forum who drift into self employment without any kind of planning or preparation and spend years earning nothing more than beer money from their activity.

However, when tax are scrapped when the Universal Credit is introduced, there is a change in conditionality to receive UC for the self employed as the govt are implementing a stick to encourage the SE to at least earn the National Minimum Wage from their business income.


Use the Turn2us online benefit calculator to model the scenarios your propose. If you feel too sick to take up employment, look into ESA, employment support allowance.

Caz3121

how long were you in your job? were you paying NI in the tax years ending Apr 11 and Apr 12...if not you will unlikely to be entitled to any JSA payment due your OH working (even if you don't get sanctioned)

Kayalana99

You should visit JSA and see what they say anyway, then pursue number 3.

If you were entitled to JSA, I don't think they actually stop just because you say your self employed - but when you start earning?