Council say I'm not earning enough as Self Employed

meer53

extrastrongbint wrote: »

Yet again, I live in my home town where my elderly mum lives - I am the only child that lives here and provides care for her. It's not viable.

I looked after my Mum until she died, she lived 40 miles away. I worked full time and travelled there and back every day after i finished work. I had 2 young children at the time. My ex walked out on us when my youngest was just 2.

It IS viable. You just don't want it to be.

chella

pet/house sitter.


before I got sick I used to clean houses afterwork and on days off. Phone chat pays a hundered times better but still 6/7 quid a couple of hours a week would pay food bill..... or you could do what I do !!!!

Poppie68

To be honest with all the changes with UC it sounds like taking a minimum wage job is going to be the best option.....You could end up losing more than your HB.

extrastrongbint

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. It makes some interesting reading and I have a lot to think about for the future....

chella

good luck with everything OP

FBaby

So yes, maybe not "pushing myself" is not top of my priority list as I have actually done that very thing for years and got nowhere. Sadly money makes money and I have f all.

OP, you sound depressed and maybe this is affecting your outlook of life. You say you feel 80, maybe, but you are only 40, that is only HALF way through your working life at best. That means that you wil need to find a way to support yourself for another 27 years, do you realise this?

You say you have qualifications, so surely you have opportunities to maybe not start on a good wage, but to make your way up even if it means starting at NMW.

You also seem to think that taking on a proper job would mean no HB. Surely if housing costs are so high where you are, you would still be entitled to an element of HB even on NMW? The difference is they wouldn't be threatening you to take it away.

I think you need to look at the larger picture. Do you really want to sell on ebay for the rest of your working life? Do you really think you will be able to justify working 30 hours a week doing so? Do you really think there won't come a time when you will have to justify yourself much more thoroughly, even if you manage to find a loophole in the way the council is treating you now?

I feel for you because you come across as if you've already given up on life when you are still so young. You still have a chance to build a career, to meet someone and to feel good about what you are doing, but that won't happen until you start looking at possibilities rather than focussing on all the limits you convince yourself are holding you back.

specialboy

extrastrongbint wrote: »

A) I'd have to find a job - they don't just appear on trees. Especially in the area I live in
There is no guarantee that the job would want me (a Tesco Express recently opened 12 miles away and they had over 4000 applicants for 3 jobs)
C) The amount I make from ebay is small (and that's from doing it for 35 hours let alone a few at the weekend) so NMW plus ebay - not enough to live on.

35 hours a week doing ebay? You must think we are all mugs.

lighting_up_the_chalice

High deprivation, high unemployment, low wages...... yet high rents..... hmmmm. That just doesn't equate.

rogerblack

lighting_up_the_chalice wrote: »

High deprivation, high unemployment, low wages...... yet high rents..... hmmmm. That just doesn't equate.

Second homes boosting rents enormously in commuter range of a city, for example.
Often few local jobs.

[Deleted User]

lighting_up_the_chalice wrote: »

High deprivation, high unemployment, low wages...... yet high rents..... hmmmm. That just doesn't equate.

It's does equate, just read my signature.