Working tax credits self employed

tomtontom

LONDONBOY123 wrote: »

It is only not viable if the WTC payments are not included in the business. However, the business was only started as it was confirmed by the Job centre that the business would receive these payments hence the business was started.

The JCP should not advise on WTC eligibility, they do not administer them.

Anything to stop him getting a proper job and doing this in his spare time?

dktreesea

tomtontom wrote: »

The JCP should not advise on WTC eligibility, they do not administer them.

Anything to stop him getting a proper job and doing this in his spare time?

Presumably the reluctance of potential employers to employ him?

tomtontom

dktreesea wrote: »

Seriously? Which country do you live in? That's the rest of the world you're referring to, not here.


People, say, going from DWP and job seekers allowance to self employment are often doing so to protect their current benefits entitlement. Keep in mind these people usually have very little capital to invest. So the viablitiy of their business in the early stages is likely to be marginal at best.

I do agree with you, but sometimes I like to resort to my little utopia where people strive for self sufficiency

LONDONBOY123

A proper job is not a option hence he went self employed.The only employed positions are zero hour contracts and based miles away ( as he lives in the middle of no where with no transport ) he was offered a job 30 miles away on the minimum wage and after travel costs he would take home £58 a week for working 37.5 hours on the minimum wage. Moving is also not an option as he doesnt have any cash at all and nobody would be willing to be guarantor for any type of rental property. He is stuck in a rut.

dktreesea

I'm sure nearly all self employed people strive for self sufficiency. But the absence of capital, or even the ability to draw on funds from, say, a bank, would really slow down most people's ability to build a business. So they end up, for instance, renting their taxi from someone else and making a pittance, rather than owning the taxi. Or working as a private hire cab driver, unable to be flagged down on the street, rather than driving a much more lucrative black cab, simply because they can't afford the licence.


Likewise a window cleaner who can only work locally because he lacks a vehicle to transport him and his tools of trade.


I realise the romance of being self employed lends itself to imagining the person starting out with £10 and ending up a multi millionaire a few years later, but sadly for most self employed people, not to mention Her Maj's Treasury, this is so far from reality it will forever remain a fantasy.

dktreesea

LONDONBOY123 wrote: »

A proper job is not a option hence he went self employed.The only employed positions are zero hour contracts and based miles away ( as he lives in the middle of no where with no transport ) he was offered a job 30 miles away on the minimum wage and after travel costs he would take home £58 a week for working 37.5 hours on the minimum wage. Moving is also not an option as he doesnt have any cash at all and nobody would be willing to be guarantor for any type of rental property. He is stuck in a rut.

This sounds like a horrible position to be in. Since they brought in this rule/regulation/whatever it is that you have to be prepared, as a job seeker to work up to some ridiculous number of miles away from home, even if you don't own transport and there is no viable public transport link to get there, there must be a lot of people who end up being pushed into self employment as the only way to preserve their benefit entitlement.


You say he could clear £58 a week after expenses working for someone else, but my first thought was "yes, until his sole means of getting to work, a bus that only runs once in the morning and once at night (we certainly have palces like this in our neck of the woods) , doesn't turn up, so he gets his pay docked."

tomtontom

LONDONBOY123 wrote: »

A proper job is not a option hence he went self employed.The only employed positions are zero hour contracts and based miles away ( as he lives in the middle of no where with no transport ) he was offered a job 30 miles away on the minimum wage and after travel costs he would take home £58 a week for working 37.5 hours on the minimum wage. Moving is also not an option as he doesnt have any cash at all and nobody would be willing to be guarantor for any type of rental property. He is stuck in a rut.

I'm sorry but the amount of people that claim to live in the middle of nowhere, anyone would think we were in some third world country with zero infrastructure! How do these people get an education, see a doctor, post things?

Moving does not need to be expensive, and if he can find a shared house he won't need much of a deposit etc. If he does, most councils have deposit guarantee schemes that would help. It would be far more constructive to help him find the means to do this, then keep living a pipe dream.

LONDONBOY123

He can't even afford the rent, let alone any type of deposit payment- unless they accept Tesco value beans as a deposit payment. His only income is £65 a week, of which he spends £40 on bills and the remaining £25 on food. Thats it- no other funds, savings or income.Not even got a suit to wear for any interview or cant even get to interviews as of the transport costs. ( Has'nt even got a bike or could afford one )
The Job centre used to pay interview travel costs upon a production of a receipt ( but had to pay upfront first, which he has no money to do ).

As I say- stuck in a rut.

FBaby

So on one hand he could have got a job earning £58 and probably still some tax credits, against, earning nothing and living off £65 on tax credits only. So how is he better off with his supposed business? Sounds to me like instead of giving him business advice which clearly is not going to take him far, if you really want to help him, you'd better off letting borrow one of your suits and take him to his next interview.

LONDONBOY123

£58 for 37.5 hours is roughly £1.55 per hour worked. I know I wouldnt work for £1.55 an hour, would you!!?? As regards borrowing one of my suits, he is a total different size and also he is losing his internet connection this week as cant afford it , so no idea how he is going to find these interviews.The only solution would be to use the ones in the next town to him or the ones in the Jobcentre but that would have to involve walking there which would be around a 8 hr walk ( 4 hrs there, 4 hours back ) and I doubt spending £25 a week on food would not give you the energy to healthy and the calories to walk for 8 hours each day.

A no win situation.