Self Employed and Housing Benefit help!

kate_a_p

Hi all, please forgive the essay here, but its complicated!!
OK, so my husband is a music tutor. He teaches for an employer for a few hours a week as well as running his own private tuition business. He has been doing this for the last few years or so and its plodding along and we're just about keeping our head above water. We have 2 children under 10 and I've been ill for some time, struggled to get a diagnosis until a few weeks ago, and have spent much of the last few years on hefty pain killers and feeling pretty poorly! Previously I was a journalist and worked for a large and well known broadcaster. So, currently am not working or claiming anything (PIP or DLA or anything like that)
We have been claiming full housing and council tax benefit as my husband earns quite little and well below minimum wage. He has been juggling looking after me, the kids, the house, as well as teaching and trying to keep us afloat.
When he first started the business (suggested to him by the then A4E) we went into the housing benefit people and explained everything, took in all the paperwork they asked for and they said that we were entitled to full housing/CT benefit. They also said that if our income went above a certain amount we would have to tell them. His earnings fluctuate and the money he gets from his tuition varies a great deal, the wages he gets as an employee are only for about 8 months of the year when his guitar courses are running. From week to week we never know how much he will have coming in (people cancelling lessons etc etc)
The last few years have been a bit of a blur if I'm honest, have not been on top of things as much as I should have been, its been a shock to the system not working and having to deal with surgery, pain killers appointments and battling the NHS (thats another story all together!) but have always been vaguely aware that we were doing all the things we needed to do to keep things ticking over. Have used the entitled to calculator loads just to check that we were still OK, for tax credits and rent etc and its always come back that we are entitled to full HB/CT.
So, we got a call from the council saying that our HB/CT had been reduced and we had been over-payed and now have to pay back nearly £2000 for both over the last few years, and now have to pay part of out rent and council tax every week, it doesn't sound very much I realise, but roughly £30 a week we don't have! especially for those 4 months of the year when we don't get a big chunk of money (I say big, its usually about £400 a month for those 8 months, sometimes a lot less). They've sent us a huge letter - 104 pages! of calculations based on information that they have got from HMRC, assuming from my husbands self assessment for the last couple of years. I have no idea where the calculations have come from and none of it makes any sense at all! Some weeks it says full entitlement and some say nothing. His earnings are all wrong and loads more than he actually gets!
I realise now after searching about that we should have told them all of the earnings, but they change so often and we really have no way of predicting what they will be, my husband (men! ugh!) assured me that when he spoke to the housing people that we were all OK and there was nothing else we needed to do.
So, does anyone know if they may have looked at our earnings and based housing benefit on total earnings before deductions? (running costs like bus fare to different students houses, a guitar, phone bills etc etc) because that is what I think they may have done! Help! What do we do?
Before all the benefit bashers wade in, we're not wanting to stay on benefits forever, as soon as I have medication that actually works, and I can walk again I will be back out there! and in the meantime am trying to look for work I can do online and from home (if anyone needs any blogs, newsletters or website content writing doing, let me know! )
I hate that we're struggling, and its super stressful and not all that helpful having to throw yourself at the mercy of a system that isn't designed for fluctuating hours or pay, or sickness or life stuff!
Any advice what to do? We're submitting P60's and tax credit awards as well as all the other bits and pieces, but would quite like to go into this armed with more info about what they have done and why!
Thanks for reading!

tomtontom

Rather than you having to work when you're still unwell, can your husband not get a proper job? It would save the issues you now face and HMRC reviewing the viability of his work - and potentially claiming back what he has already claimed.

kate_a_p

tomtontom wrote: »

Rather than you having to work when you're still unwell, can your husband not get a proper job? It would save the issues you now face and HMRC reviewing the viability of his work - and potentially claiming back what he has already claimed.

Ha! 'Proper Job'! After 20 plus years of not being a 'proper person' and working in the music industry, with all his experience in that one field, its easier said than done. I'd love for that to be honest, we both would, its not quite as black and white as I would like though. There are days when I can't walk at all, not even to the bathroom, so currently hubby having a job that is flexible and can be worked around picking the kids up from school etc etc is really important. The teaching is a viable job, we just need to build on it and increase how many students he has. Do you think that is what the HMRC are doing then? reviewing the viability of his work?

nannytone_2

are you calculating entitlement to housing benefit on your yearly household income?
as yor husnad earns £400 s month in a few months of the year, it seems this may be the issue.
housing benefit counts income as it is earned and not on a annual basis.
so one month you may get more and others you may get less.

kate_a_p

nannytone wrote: »

are you calculating entitlement to housing benefit on your yearly household income?
as yor husnad earns £400 s month in a few months of the year, it seems this may be the issue.
housing benefit counts income as it is earned and not on a annual basis.
so one month you may get more and others you may get less.

Yes we did, my bad! It just seemed like the most reasonable and uncomplicated way to do it, and the way that every other place does it too. I still don't understand how they have calculated the overpayment though, they have backdated it all for the last 3 years or so, and even with the chunks of money (the £400 ish) it shouldn't make all that much difference. How do we go forward, how do we tell them what he is earning? and how often do they need it? None of their figures match what he actually earned, even week by week.

kittygirl20

Hi Kate,

Cant help with your actual query, but try applying for Leapforce or ERS Connect for work you can do from home? There's also other suggestions in the 'Boost Your Income' forum on here.

All the best

kate_a_p

kittygirl20 wrote: »

Hi Kate,

Cant help with your actual query, but try applying for Leapforce or ERS Connect for work you can do from home? There's also other suggestions in the 'Boost Your Income' forum on here.

All the best

Just trawling through it now! Found a thread on AQA but its quite old, can't seem to find any more info online about them, quite like the sound of that. Some of the writing sites like People Per Hour and Elance pay hardly anything, would work out at about £2 an hour I think, its hard finding sites that pay a proper amount of money. I don't mind putting loads of hours in, I'd much rather be doing something productive whilst I'm in this situation, rather than spending a tonne of time chasing benefits! Thanks for the positive reply!

pmlindyloo

Housing benefit calculate the income of the self employed in a different way when assessing the expenses that can be deducted. They do not use the same figures to determine the net profit and is quite different to the allowances used for tax purposes.

This link may help you understand what they allow and what they don't.

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/Assets/Documents/self-employed-advice-htbandctr.pdf

kate_a_p

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Housing benefit calculate the income of the self employed in a different way when assessing the expenses that can be deducted. They do not use the same figures to determine the net profit and is quite different to the allowances used for tax purposes.

This link may help you understand what they allow and what they don't.

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/Assets/Documents/self-employed-advice-htbandctr.pdf

Yes have had a look at that earlier today, it still makes no sense even based on that, all of the deductions for running costs were mostly bus fares to be honest, some for a phone and a few other things, but all allowable based on that list there. Have they assumed that the deductions were not allowable and thats how they have come up with a much larger figure? I don't know what information they are working from, because its certainly not information that they have from us or from the HMRC as they say they have.

nannytone_2

they send a new award letter every year.
haven't you checked them?

kate_a_p

nannytone wrote: »

they send a new award letter every year.
haven't you checked them?

They sent a list of the rent account with how much the rent is and then how much HB we get - which was the full amount. I saw that and thought that everything must be OK, until the last week when we got the 104 page letter! Was a shock! and am sure its not correct, I just wish I knew which figures they were working from!