Mature Student Needing Assistance

PBOShaughn

Hello and thank you for taking the time to look at his,

I started living independently in September 2012 where I moved away from home and got a job etc. In May 2014 I moved to France where I was under the impression I would be working a well paid job with accommodation included, this was a fairly relaxed environment as I had worked with my employer in the past so didn't feel I should put any pressure on. (I learned from this mistake)

A couple of weeks/months in the job fell through and I moved back to the UK and started working this was August 2014, after working a few months I quit the job in November and declared myself self-employed and have been working for myself since.

Things have been slow the last few months Business wise but I have just secured a contract which will put me right back on track.

Now when I am filling out my Student Finance form I hit a few issues as follows:

Firstly: I put a break in of a few months when I went to France, I can supply my employers details but I never received a contract for employment or ever received any money, just accommodation and some food. Should I declare this on my form and under the money put a 0?
If I do declare this will this make any difference to me living outside of the UK in the last 3 years?

Secondly: I rang up Student Finance and unfortunately felt it was a bit confusing what I was saying and was advised to put down I am working Self-Employed until the start of my course, is this correct?

Thirdly: Does Student Finance look at your income in the Financial year or the Calendar year? As my earnings between April 14 and April 15 are quite low, I am worried that this will effect me.
If I cannot get the full Maintenance Loan and Grant I doubt I will be able to afford to go to University.

Thank you for reading this and if you can help at all it will be greatly appreciated.