Martin Lewis joins campaigners calling on Treasury to help 3m excluded from coronavirus support

gary83

se2020 said:

I was turned down for UC (but this was in march) due to having savings over £16k although after my July tax bill inwould have had less than £2k in savings.
I did take advice in another thread. As the UC support would not be enough to pay even my rent I decided not to pay off the july tax bill early as i could put this money toward getting the business going again before january when they will let me hold the payment until.

Just going back to this point, as explained by Martin in the link above if you have the savings but can demonstrate that they’re intended for a business tax bill even if they’re held in a personal account then you can To have HMRC disregard that amount of savings when it comes to Calculating your Universal Credit entitlement. You didn’t need to pay off the July tax bill early.

se2020

gary83 said:

se2020 said:

I was turned down for UC (but this was in march) due to having savings over £16k although after my July tax bill inwould have had less than £2k in savings.
I did take advice in another thread. As the UC support would not be enough to pay even my rent I decided not to pay off the july tax bill early as i could put this money toward getting the business going again before january when they will let me hold the payment until.

Just going back to this point, as explained by Martin in the link above if you have the savings but can demonstrate that they’re intended for a business tax bill even if they’re held in a personal account then you can To have HMRC disregard that amount of savings when it comes to Calculating your Universal Credit entitlement. You didn’t need to pay off the July tax bill early.

They did not confirm this until April.
If I would have been eligible for universal credit i would have received £110 per week but my rent payment alone is £820 per month so it would not have been an option for me anyway.

LilElvis

se2020 said:

gary83 said:

se2020 said:

I was turned down for UC (but this was in march) due to having savings over £16k although after my July tax bill inwould have had less than £2k in savings.
I did take advice in another thread. As the UC support would not be enough to pay even my rent I decided not to pay off the july tax bill early as i could put this money toward getting the business going again before january when they will let me hold the payment until.

Just going back to this point, as explained by Martin in the link above if you have the savings but can demonstrate that they’re intended for a business tax bill even if they’re held in a personal account then you can To have HMRC disregard that amount of savings when it comes to Calculating your Universal Credit entitlement. You didn’t need to pay off the July tax bill early.

They did not confirm this until April.
If I would have been eligible for universal credit i would have received £110 per week but my rent payment alone is £820 per month so it would not have been an option for me anyway.

Surely £110 per week would have been better than nothing? That's around £2,000 that you haven't claimed to date - over half of your rent payments.

gary83

se2020 said:

They did not confirm this until April. If I would have been eligible for universal credit i would have received £110 per week but my rent payment alone is £820 per month so it would not have been an option for me anyway.

It wouldn’t have been an option for you? I’d like to be offered £110 per week for free. Just to be clear you could have had around £450 a month for the last several months but instead didn’t bother as you wanted more and yet you still claim to have been totally excluded?

se2020

I did not claim as when I first tried in march I was told I was not eligible as I had over £16k of savings. It was not until April they announced that savings for tax were excluded. By that time I had found other work anyway.
The other work is enough to pay my rent and basic bills so I though that left me unable to claim UC. 
An equal deployment of the sess would have left me able to keep the business going.
As it looks now I can either take out a large loan with no idea of the future and not know how or when I will be able to pay it back.
I know i am not personally starving so I do not feel like I need the UC. 
It is the business I have built up over 22yrs that has been excluded and is looking like it is going to fail now.

Jonesy1977

@se2020 I really do feel for your circumstances, and I hope that your business survives and thrives in the future.  The problem here is that you started your posts by stating that you have been Excluded, however you have not been excluded, you have access to support you have chosen not to use it (for valid reason) but that is not the same as being excluded.   BBLS is 100% backed by the govt, it is on very favourable terms and thousands of other business owners are using the scheme to keep themselves going and to ensure that they come back strong, debt may not be palatable but that is how most business's are getting out of this.  

gary83

there is no requirement to be “personally starving” to claim UC. You chose not to claim it as you begrudged “only” getting £110 a week and wouldn’t cover your rent (you also decided not to drip feed the information that you found work in April to cover your rent and other bills) and have misrepresented that here to help your Narrative that you’re totally excluded, a fairly common theme amongst the excludeduk group.

You also seem totally against the idea of using a BBL now and think you deserve a grant to replace your large amount of stock expiring, though you weren’t that dead set against the idea of using a bounce back loan when you started aanother thread asking if you could take a bounce back loan and use the money in buying a new house. 

I’m sorry for the stock you’re going to lose but I think your another example of the excludeduk group not portraying the accurate situation, I think it’s a shame as some people such as the new starters are genuinely are struggling with nothing since March.

Jonesy1977

gary83 said:

there is no requirement to be “personally starving” to claim UC. You chose not to claim it as you begrudged “only” getting £110 a week and wouldn’t cover your rent (you also decided not to drip feed the information that you found work in April to cover your rent and other bills) and have misrepresented that here to help your Narrative that you’re totally excluded, a fairly common theme amongst the excludeduk group.

You also seem totally against the idea of using a BBL now and think you deserve a grant to replace your large amount of stock expiring, though you weren’t that dead set against the idea of using a bounce back loan when you started aanother thread asking if you could take a bounce back loan and use the money in buying a new house. 

I’m sorry for the stock you’re going to lose but I think your another example of the excludeduk group not portraying the accurate situation, I think it’s a shame as some people such as the new starters are genuinely are struggling with nothing since March.

Ah, I hadn't noticed that @gary83
"Reading the loan terms it does just look like u could borrow it to pay myself anyway so I could just add it to my existing deposit anyway.  It's interest free for a year so that would save me a few quid in mortgage repayments over 12 months and if the mortgage rate is not less than 2.5% I could also save over the following 5years"
Not quite the #Excluded then.....

se2020

On a personal level I do  not feel as if I am excluded from all sorts of help.
Yes, if I had no work (which I did not at the end of march) I could have claimed UC. I am out of contract on my house rent so I could easy have found somewhere cheaper to live.  I said I am  not at risk of starving.
I would always prefer to work and so that is why I babe found other work I am able to do which meets my income requirements to enable me to currently stay in the same house and pay the regular bills.

What has been excluded is my business. I know as I am self employed my personal and business situation are one and the same. 
I can take loans to restart the business but as of yet I (and many others I know in the same industry) have no signs of a date when these businesses may restart effectively. 
I appreciate the bb loan is very favorable rates yet building a debt seems silly to me when I have no idea or guidance of any timeframe when I will be able to start.makkng repayments towards it.
I appreciate the scheme has not been designed to be fair but I have no doubt that my business will now be disadvantaged over a similar business that may have been able to claim £2.5k a month even though they may have only had a annual profit of £2k less than mine.

Jonesy1977

se2020 said:

On a personal level I do  not feel as if I am excluded from all sorts of help.
Yes, if I had no work (which I did not at the end of march) I could have claimed UC. I am out of contract on my house rent so I could easy have found somewhere cheaper to live.  I said I am  not at risk of starving.
I would always prefer to work and so that is why I babe found other work I am able to do which meets my income requirements to enable me to currently stay in the same house and pay the regular bills.

What has been excluded is my business. I know as I am self employed my personal and business situation are one and the same. 
I can take loans to restart the business but as of yet I (and many others I know in the same industry) have no signs of a date when these businesses may restart effectively. 
I appreciate the bb loan is very favorable rates yet building a debt seems silly to me when I have no idea or guidance of any timeframe when I will be able to start.makkng repayments towards it.
I appreciate the scheme has not been designed to be fair but I have no doubt that my business will now be disadvantaged over a similar business that may have been able to claim £2.5k a month even though they may have only had a annual profit of £2k less than mine.

That is the same as every business, and it is your choice whether you back your business for the long term (supported by BBLS, and don't forget risk backed at 100%) or whether you bow out and find employment and or UC.  These are choices, not nice choices but choices non the less and you are therefore not excluded.  I wish you well