Not Gainfully Self Employed - Can I continue or do I need to close my shop?

calcotti

NotAllThere said:

I spend approximately 35 hours per week on the freelancing, when this work is available. However, there can be gaps between contracts and, with these gaps, I spend time finding other clients and I also, perhaps not surprising as a freelance software dev, I spend some time on my own projects/games as part of my private company. There is no significant source of income from this - my main income is with freelancing, including tax credits.

My working/opening hours are usually from 10am to 6pm. But this is not always the case, since some clients can require my services late in the evenings, which may cause my to start later the next morning. As mentioned, I have mental health issues for which, various doctors in the past, have stated that I need a  “good 8 hours of sleep per night”.

A would say that made you gainfully self employed because of the time you are spending.

NedS

I agree, IMHO you are gainfully self employed and the minimum income floor will apply immediately to you given you have been trading for more than 12 months.

However, if you can wait until September before making your claim, all new claims for UC from September 2020 who are gainfully self employed will qualify for the 12 month start up period regardless of how long you have been trading (assuming they haven't had a start up period in the previous 5 years). That would give you 12 months grace to try to increase your earnings.

Spoonie_Turtle

There is an exception! For the MIF, anyway, which may be relevant to you but also may not be, it depends how your mental health conditions affect you over the course of a year.

If you went through the Work Capability Assessment and were deemed to have either LCW or LCWRA, you would be exempt from the MIF. However, you would have to carefully consider whether you would probably meet the criteria or not before deciding whether to go down that route.

(How do I do a quote?! Ah, with < blockquote > tags)

where the claimant is subject to no work-related requirements (i.e. they are not required to work rather than have sufficient income to put them in this group), or is subject to a work-focused interview requirement or a work preparation requirement only.

https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/universal-credit/guidance/entitlement-to-uc/self-employment/minimum-income-floor/#exceptions to the MIF