Sole Trader & Maternity Leave - can someone else run my website?

Missy_Spud

Hi, I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant and run my own website/ebay shop as a sole trader, I will be on maternity leave at some point and worried about my website, I should hopefully receive maternity allowance as ive been paying class 2 NI for the past 4 years of being self employed.

I'm worried about just taking 9 months off (my website/ebay doesn't earn much at all at the mo but my website is fairly new and im working hard to get it noticed on social media/competitions etc I've googled for some info regarding whether my boyfriend can take over in some way whilst im on maternity leave but I can't seem to find a definitive answer, I don't want to work hard building up my website/shop and then when I go on maternity leave in oct/nov just shut down my site and everyone forget who I am, and lose any customers as this will obviously be coming up towards xmas too so a busy time! I sell giftware/homeware.

So is it possible that my boyfriend can do the work but still trade under my name so everything still goes through my paypal accounts/receipts in my name etc or can it be put in his name, I currently trade as (Miss annoymous t/a website name) so could I just change this to my boyfriends name and it be (Mr annonymous t/a website name) and go via his paypal/set him up accounts with suppliers etc and obviously notify the tax office (which all sounds like a pain to set up!)

or is that not allowed? and I just have to shut down my website & shop whilst im on maternity leave?

Thanks

Stevie_Palimo

I would not want to give it up after spending time and effort building it up, Can you not outsource the work to someone you know and trust and pay them accordingly ?

martindow

Can you not continue to run it yourself? During most of your pregnancy you will be fine and really the problems will only start once you have a little one and continue while they are growing up.

I would train up your boyfriend to take over as and when necessary. In fact it is a good idea to have someone who can hold the fort, pregnancy or not. It can make a business very vulnerable if only person knows what is going on.

Best wishes for your business and family!

Savvy_Sue

martin, the issue is that you are not supposed to receive SMP / SMA while doing any form of paid work, and I believe that includes self-employed.

Mistral001

I would have thought that if any money connected with the business was going in and out of accounts in your name it would be pretty difficult to prove that you were not working. I do not see the need for you to change the name of the website if the business was being run by some else. However, I suppose it would have to be run totally by someone else as I cannot see how you could be involved in it at all.

honeypop

I found this pretty useful http://businessplusbaby.com/2010/12/13/self-employment-during-your-maternity-pay-period/ a little old but still relevant info, be sure to read all the comments at the bottom as they answer a few more questions there.


Basically, you can have someone else doing the work for you if you outsource to them (and this could be your boyfriend), you can keep the business running in your name, as long as you work no more than the 10 KIT days over the span of your maternity leave.

InsideInsurance

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

martin, the issue is that you are not supposed to receive SMP / SMA while doing any form of paid work, and I believe that includes self-employed.

Hands up first of all, benefits are not my thing so cannot help.

A sole trader is however simply a business structure and doesnt actually imply that there is only one person working. A sole trader could if they wanted employ hundreds of people and have a turnover of many millions.

Just as a company can deal with a CEO going on maternity leave so could a sole trader do the same. As has been suggested there is already the potential of the boyfriend as a candidate to take over its running.

Now if the boyfriend is a volunteer doing it, if he should become an employee of the OP for the period etc is another thing.

What investigations HMRC may actually do to ensure it is really the rest of the business/ boyfriend running it and not the OP really continuing it and just getting some helping hand from others is another matter.

hunnie

Hi,
Yes your boyfriend can run your website.
You are allowed to continue to receive income from your self employment - just not to actually do any work!
I don't think the rules are suited to self employment at all.


You can use your 10 KIT days to check everything is still okay.
You don't need to contact anyone about these, just keep a record in case they contact you.


My daughter has just finished maternity leave and had a substitute running her business. No one ever checked from the benefits office.