Lone Parent going self employed

benniebert

shegirl wrote: »

I would sure hope there would be an income limit

Personally I don't know if there is. There is one with contributory ESA and it depends which group you are in.


Under contributory ESA and in the Support Group, you can earn NET up to approx. £103 a week and still get full benefit. You can do this for as long as you are in the Support Group.


The only overriding fact is that you must not work for more than 16 hours a week.


Being self employed in those circumstances opens up a whole world of being able to earn a fortune in under 16 hours but show that the net income is less than £103 a week.


Can you do this with JSA, I don't know - hoping that someone comes along to give a definitive answer.

shegirl

It looks like there must be,which makes sense. The whole point of JSA is due to no or limited income.

I've just read that there is a pound for pound reduction for anything over £50 from an occupational pension while on contributions based JSA. There was something about working but it didn't specify reductions,although it's clear there will be reductions or cut offs.

Earning a fortune for under 16 hours work isn't normal for many people,remember that working hours don't just include those actually doing the specified job but all the travel,marketing,research,paperwork etc etc as well. There will be some jobs it's possible and likely but I don't think they'd be getting JSA at the same time!

benniebert

shegirl wrote: »

It looks like there must be,which makes sense. The whole point of JSA is due to no or limited income.

I've just read that there is a pound for pound reduction for anything over £50 from an occupational pension while on contributions based JSA. There was something about working but it didn't specify reductions,although it's clear there will be reductions or cut offs.

Earning a fortune for under 16 hours work isn't normal for many people,remember that working hours don't just include those actually doing the specified job but all the travel,marketing,research,paperwork etc etc as well. There will be some jobs it's possible and likely but I don't think they'd be getting JSA at the same time!

Earning £20 an hour isn't that difficult to manage x 15.75 hours a week = £315 less wages to son/daughter/etc of £215 a week = net income of £100 - well below the cut off and still able to claim full ESA.


I don't know about contributory JSA. There must be something otherwise if it is £ for £ deduction there is absolutely no point in working unless you bring home a wage after all expenses have been deducted (travel, clothes etc) far far in excess of the benefit payment.


I have heard that the way the system works you are only fractionally better off working for 16 hours at minimum rate over what you would get in JSA payments.

shegirl

benniebert wrote: »

Earning £20 an hour isn't that difficult to manage x 15.75 hours a week = £315 less wages to son/daughter/etc of £215 a week = net income of £100 - well below the cut off and still able to claim full ESA.


I don't know about contributory JSA. There must be something otherwise if it is £ for £ deduction there is absolutely no point in working unless you bring home a wage after all expenses have been deducted (travel, clothes etc) far far in excess of the benefit payment.


I have heard that the way the system works you are only fractionally better off working for 16 hours at minimum rate over what you would get in JSA payments.

Obviously how much you can earn per hour is reliant on what you do and the call for it. Some earn that and more,others don't. For a lot of self employed people it doesn't happen, those who are self employed and on benefits are often doing low income jobs or higher ones sporadically.

Of course there is a point in working. You get something extra on top and not everyone needs different clothing or has high travel costs etc. IS A isn't permanent. So, they can be working themselves up to full time employment. The contributory JSA is to cover a period of no employment or low employment and wage and is for a set period, I think? Just googled and it says 6 months.

There must be an income cut off for it though. I don't know the rules for it at all,but there will be some!

I believe contributions based JSA is something like £70 a week. Yes,it's not a huge amount less than working 16 hours at minimum wage but the difference it makes depends on different circumstances I guess. But ideally you'd be looking for full time work.

However it works,I'm sure it will all change when UC comes in!