Job Offer: Will we be better off ?

Mummy2K

Hello,

I am self-employed and working from home making crafts. The work is very sporadic but as I'm a one-woman band I can only take on so much at once and honestly, it doesn't even pay the bills. My husband is also self-employed but his work has completely dried up and he hasn't earned a penny in months. He has been looking for work but hasn't even managed to get an interview in over 18 months of looking. It doesn't help we live in what is considered an 'unemployment blackspot' but we can't afford to move!

We have one child, aged 9 and rent privately.

Currently we receive housing benefit for about two-thirds of our rent, leaving us around £220 a month to pay and our council tax is currently only £10 a month due to discounts. We also receive child and working tax credits of approximately £450 per month. Due to our low income we also get free NHS services via tax credits which helps a lot as my husband is on medication. Every month is a juggling act with the rent consistently late, utility suppliers having to extend our payment dates and the constant worry of how we are going to eat/pay bills/buy uniform etc. etc.

I have been offered a job working 6 days a week and paying 14K a year (gross). I would have to drive to work as it will be a 30 mile round trip every day and the office is not on a bus route. I would have to pretty much give up my home business as I simply wouldn't have time.

I'm torn between trying to boost the home business I have built it up over the last 4 years, earning a good name and loyal customers or dumping it all and just getting a job with a regular income. What I really need to work out is whether going for the job will really benefit my family or whether we will still be barely keeping our heads above water?

I've had a look at some of the benefits calculators but there seems to be no way to work out a comparison. Maybe I'm just being a bit dim but I can't seem to see a way to work it out.

Can anybody help? Thank you.

shegirl

How much do you earn from your business?

rogerblack

If you are not making NMW or close to it in a buisness that has been going for 4 years, you are at _severe_ risk of being inspected, and being found to have not been eligible for tax credits for some or all of this period and having to repay it.

Universal credit when it comes along will also assume you are earning NMW and require you to seek work unless you declare 35 hours of work a week at NMW. If you do this, then you will be taken to be earning this amount - even if you are not.

Is there a real likelyhood of your buisness hitting significantly over 35*NMW in the short term - so that with downspells it averages 35*?

chris1973

it doesn't even pay the bills

Then excuse my bluntness, but from your own description you don't have a business, what you have is a nice little kitchen table hobby which keeps you busy whilst the kid is at school and makes a bit of pocket money from doing something that you enjoy - which would be fine, if it was a secondary activity done at evenings / weekends in addition to a primary one which actually pays you a wage and helps to support the household.

If the 'business' doesn't show any sign of producing the same £14k Gross 'wage' as the Job offered then i'm puzzled as to why you even have to ask the question. I suspect you could drive a Jag the 30 miles to work and still be earning more money than from your home 'business' after petrol costs.

Do what the rest of us have to do when faced with increasing costs or a job change which requires a longer commute, find ways to economise and save money. When I moved jobs, I went from working less than a mile away to doing a 100 mile round trip every day for a wage of £13k after tax - I sold an expensive petrol car and got a 1998 Xantia Diesel, and ran it perfectly legally and trouble free on cooking oil - I did this for Three years without issue (The older car actually turned out to be far more reliable than my previous 2007 German petrol guzzler). Oil is currently £12 for 20 litres from wholesalers like JJ Foodservices - that's 60p per litre or 50% cheaper than pump diesel. So that's one way that you can reduce your commute costs by 50%. You will need to buy an older diesel car to do it though.

BigAunty

You can use the Turn2us online benefit calculator to identify if/how much you are better off taking that steady job versus your low profit hobby job.

You should easily be able to make a comparison - first you put in your current scenario and make a note of your income. Then you put in the proposed future scenario (and factor in any additional expenses like travel and child care) and see if you are better off. What kind of issue are you having when you do this modelling? Is it the new budget changes that are causing the issues.

Could your husband take over your business or does he not have the skill set?

Rogerblack gives a good idea of the risks you face due to the much harsher attitude and conditionality that is being imposed, and will increasingly be imposed under UC, for the self employed. The govt signalled some years ago on the white paper proposing UC that they were very concerned with the long term benefit dependency of the SE and that they wished for them to at least draw a minimum income floor (the NMW) from their businesses or seek additional work or wind down their businesses. Have a look into that.

rogerblack

chris1973 wrote: »

T- I sold an expensive petrol car and got a 1998 Xantia Diesel, and ran it perfectly legally and trouble free on cooking oil

I do not believe this to have ever been legal at least in your case, and you may owe significant amounts of tax you have not paid.

You are allowed 2500l/year of straight vegetable oil, and if you exceed this need to pay all of the duty including on the first 2500l.

It seems likely a 100 mile daily trip would have exceeded this.

BJV

We have recently employed someone who was previously dependant on benefits. We made sure that she was better off being employed. I cam not say that this is the case doe everyone but our job centre connection assured me that without exception anyone will always be better off working.


I understand that it will be hard to let go of the business, but if it is not paying now???? It may be something that you enjoy, something that you are good at but if it can not pay the bills??? Sorry.


Also for your own peace of mind, confidence, wouldn't you rather know that you are doing something. Setting a good example for your children, showing them how to aspire. Don't forget that this job could just be the start. It is always easier to find another job if you are already employed.


This could be start of a meteoritic rise to the top. Ok a little far fetched but why not?


I know that for our lady she spoke to someone at the job centre who did lots of calculations and she is definitely better off.