Are we getting all the help we can?

Happy_Sloth

Hi there, 

• I'm a limited Company Director, who's business is dead in the water until lock down ends, I've managed to furlough myself for £120 a week and the first payment arrived earlier this week.  
• My Husband is employed and has been furloughed but he doesn't earn alot to begin with. 
• We have 2 sons living at home, The first is 20 and at university and is currently back at home. We are normally 'higher earners' (because of my dividends) so we normally need to contribute £4,000 per year towards his living expenses. 
• The Second is 18, in his final year of school and has been told he won't be going back, he is due to go away to uni in September goodness knows if that will happen and how we will afford it as we will be expected to pay £4000 a year for him as well. 

We normally have a decent income and our outgoings/lifestyle are tailored to our normal income. I'm the main earner and while my husband earns significantly less. Even though he is getting 80% while furloughed, it means our current family income is about 1/6th of what it would normally be. We had some savings be they have all but disappeared just trying to keep afloat because work has been iffy all year and i wasn't doing wonderfully even before lock down because a couple of my clients pulled out of contracts last minute leaving me in the lurch. 

We've got a mortgage break, a break for all our loans (We had some expensive emergency repairs to do on the house last year) and we've rung around all our bills cancelling all luxury's and none essentials. We've even temporarily lowered our payments for things like gas and electric.  I've spoken to the student loans company and i can fill in a form stating my income has changed to try and get my sons bigger grants, but it ask's what i will earn this year and i honestly haven't got a clue?! who knows how long this will all last. I'm scared of getting my sons into debt by guessing incorrectly. 
 
We are shielding as a family so getting a 2nd job is not likely to happen but i am looking just in case.  I've heard about bounce back loans, but i'm reluctant.. my business doesn't have very many outgoing costs other than 'me' so i guess im lucky. However i am honestly scared about how long it will take for things to recover the nature of my business means i won't recover till the world is more 'normal' and i suspect the help being offered to people will stop before im actually earning again.  I also feel like the bounce back loan might take away my ability to close my business and get a regular job, it's not what i would want but im prepared if it was required. I guess i'm just scared of getting more into debt, but would it be a good idea?

In short ... while our income isn't really low on furlough it's too high to be entitled to UC while being too low to support our home.  The only way i can see right now of reducing our outgoing's further is to move into something cheaper but selling up isn't very practical/likely in the current market and it would take time we simply don't have. 

However i think i've claimed everything we would be entitled too? Anyone got any ideas? 

My biggest fear is that the 'breaks' currently being offered to people will be withdrawn before we are stable enough to look after ourselves. 

Jeremy535897

I take it your limited company was not eligible for any of the property based grants?
You might be able to get a bounce back loan in the limited company, but then taking the money out might be difficult if the company has no retained profits, and doesn't owe you money.

calcotti

Use a benefit calculator to see if you have any Universal Credit entitlement.
https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

poppy12345

You say you're shielding as a family so taking a 2nd job is not likely to happen. Have you or your partner received the shielding letter from the NHS advising you to shield?

Grumpy_chap

You can delay tax payments.

What type of business are you in?

It sounds like there are not really any retained profits in the business?

Toble

Guess you're going to have to learn to scale back.

You say you earn far more than UC still, so maybe learn how most on UC feel, whilst you've had a very successful decade or two, not paying your fair share of taxes through the current dividend structure. 
Seems a shame despite being successful, you do not have a solid long-term emergency fund (6+ months of costs). Of course you will use excuses about emergency house works to your 4-5bed, or work being slow, but this 6 month emergency loan should of been built as soon as you were clearing profit from the 100k dividend profit  

You get my gist? Try and sell something, no sympathy for anyone SE or Director crying they can only get tiny furlough amount due to their tax strategy. 
Alternatively, go get that second job, as it does seem like you have no other choice (just as the other hundreds of thousands being forced to work).

Happy_Sloth

poppy12345 said:

You say you're shielding as a family so taking a 2nd job is not likely to happen. Have you or your partner received the shielding letter from the NHS advising you to shield?

 No we haven't but our father has and as we are his full time carers and he simply can not survive without us going into his house daily, we have made the decision to shield to keep him safe.  We have tried to get other outside help for him but we can't get him the level of care he requires. 

Happy_Sloth

Toble said:

Guess you're going to have to learn to scale back.

You say you earn far more than UC still, so maybe learn how most on UC feel, whilst you've had a very successful decade or two, not paying your fair share of taxes through the current dividend structure. 
Seems a shame despite being successful, you were not smart enough to have a solid long-term family emergency fund (6+ months of costs). Of course you will use excuses about emergency house works to your 4-5bed, or work being slow, but this 6 month emergency loan should of been built as soon as you were clearing profit from the 100k dividend profit  

You get my gist? Suck it up and sell something, no sympathy for anyone SE or Director crying they can only get tiny furlough amount due to their tax strategy. 
Alternatively, go get that second job, as it does seem like you have no other choice (just as the other hundreds of thousands being forced to work).

I pay the tax i am due to pay as advised by my accountant, i agree the rules are broken but i still pay more in tax's than a lot of people each year. 
Which part of what i said made you think i earn £100k in dividends because i assure you i earn no-where near that much?

Also what makes you think i'm not smart enough to have savings... i had savings. Sadly emergency work (not cosmetic or luxury) needed to be done back end of last year. Without the work we simply could not have continued to live in the house as the house as we had no electric or heating. Until November i had well over 6 months savings... unfortunately i've had a terrible year with the business due to a catalogue of issues and we've been cutting into those savings every month since then. 

I have been struggling with my mental health since this all started! I already blame my self each and every day for the predicament my family is in... i came here for help... i should not have bothered. 

Splatfoot

Happy_Sloth said:

Toble said:

Guess you're going to have to learn to scale back.

You say you earn far more than UC still, so maybe learn how most on UC feel, whilst you've had a very successful decade or two, not paying your fair share of taxes through the current dividend structure. 
Seems a shame despite being successful, you were not smart enough to have a solid long-term family emergency fund (6+ months of costs). Of course you will use excuses about emergency house works to your 4-5bed, or work being slow, but this 6 month emergency loan should of been built as soon as you were clearing profit from the 100k dividend profit  

You get my gist? Suck it up and sell something, no sympathy for anyone SE or Director crying they can only get tiny furlough amount due to their tax strategy. 
Alternatively, go get that second job, as it does seem like you have no other choice (just as the other hundreds of thousands being forced to work).

I pay the tax i am due to pay as advised by my accountant, i agree the rules are broken but i still pay more in tax's than a lot of people each year. 
Which part of what i said made you think i earn £100k in dividends because i assure you i earn no-where near that much?

Also what makes you think i'm not smart enough to have savings... i had savings. Sadly emergency work (not cosmetic or luxury) needed to be done back end of last year. Without the work we simply could not have continued to live in the house as the house as we had no electric or heating. Until November i had well over 6 months savings... unfortunately i've had a terrible year with the business due to a catalogue of issues and we've been cutting into those savings every month since then. 

I have been struggling with my mental health since this all started! I already blame my self each and every day for the predicament my family is in... i came here for help... i should not have bothered. 

You don't need to explain yourself to the rude poster above. I think it will just be a case of cutting back. What about your boys getting themselves jobs to contribute at this tricky time? Supermarkets are always pretty open to students looking for work. 

Toble

Happy_Sloth said:

Toble said:

Guess you're going to have to learn to scale back.

You say you earn far more than UC still, so maybe learn how most on UC feel, whilst you've had a very successful decade or two, not paying your fair share of taxes through the current dividend structure. 
Seems a shame despite being successful, you were not smart enough to have a solid long-term family emergency fund (6+ months of costs). Of course you will use excuses about emergency house works to your 4-5bed, or work being slow, but this 6 month emergency loan should of been built as soon as you were clearing profit from the 100k dividend profit  

You get my gist? Suck it up and sell something, no sympathy for anyone SE or Director crying they can only get tiny furlough amount due to their tax strategy. 
Alternatively, go get that second job, as it does seem like you have no other choice (just as the other hundreds of thousands being forced to work).

I pay the tax i am due to pay as advised by my accountant, i agree the rules are broken but i still pay more in tax's than a lot of people each year. 
Which part of what i said made you think i earn £100k in dividends because i assure you i earn no-where near that much?

Also what makes you think i'm not smart enough to have savings... i had savings. Sadly emergency work (not cosmetic or luxury) needed to be done back end of last year. Without the work we simply could not have continued to live in the house as the house as we had no electric or heating. Until November i had well over 6 months savings... unfortunately i've had a terrible year with the business due to a catalogue of issues and we've been cutting into those savings every month since then. 

I have been struggling with my mental health since this all started! I already blame my self each and every day for the predicament my family is in... i came here for help... i should not have bothered. 

Apologies, it was slightly harsh and was more a reflection on a lot of SE/Director entitlement i have just seen nonstop over the last few months.

Bounce back loan, raise funds somehow (possessions or more credit for now), or that second job seem the only available options. You might indeed have to sell and move somewhere else and raise capital (to pay back any short term credit) - equity release?

Perhaps for the time being whilst working that second job/income you avoid the people needing shielding? Stay elsewhere? Or someone else assists the person.

I would speak to SFE re the costs for your youngest, although I know usually they are based of prev year earnings, you might be able to get his maintenance loan for year 1 up. 
Good luck 

ess0two

Happy_Sloth said:

poppy12345 said:

You say you're shielding as a family so taking a 2nd job is not likely to happen. Have you or your partner received the shielding letter from the NHS advising you to shield?

 No we haven't but our father has and as we are his full time carers and he simply can not survive without us going into his house daily, we have made the decision to shield to keep him safe.  We have tried to get other outside help for him but we can't get him the level of care he requires. 

Could someone temporarily move in with dad? then leaves 3  members of household to work more or gain work? 2 sons?