Self employed universal credit. Phone interview, commitments?

foxy91

Hello,
I have received an email today saying I have a phone appointment booked for my Universal credit claim. I am currently self employed and claiming due to a hit im my self employment profit due to corona.  I give them my figures each month so they can work out what I am entitled to. The email told me to log in to my account for more details on the phone appointment. On my account it now asks me in my To do list. Tell us about your work search. Going on this it asks me what jobs I would like and if I have a CV to upload so my work coach can come up with my commitments. I am confused about this asking about jobs as I am already self employed? Why am I being asked about looking for work when I am claiming UC for being self employed and not unemployed? Any advice on this would be great as I am really confused on why they are asking about finding work.
Many thanks.

calcotti

That doesn't sound right. If you are treated as gainfully self employed you do not have any work search requirements but at some stage in the future the Minimum Income Floor will be applied to you.
It may be that you have some self employment but have interpreted it as ancillary to seeking employment.
It may be worth ringing the helpline rather than trying to deal with through journal messages although you may want to confirm anything you agree on the phone with a message.

foxy91

It may be because my last few months of expenses submitted resulted in losses. Due to purchases that ive not been able to sell. Still confused about the commitments part though, it's like they have forgotten I am self employed

calcotti

foxy91 said:

It may be because my last few months of expenses submitted resulted in losses. Due to purchases that ive not been able to sell. Still confused about the commitments part though, it's like they have forgotten I am self employed

As per my previous answer they may not have registered that self employment is your primary activity as opposed to an ancillary activity. They have taken so many claims this year that claims have been set up without all the normal processes being followed. They are now trying to go through all of the claims made to regularise things by setting up claimant commitments, getting evidence of tenancy agreements, copies of fit Notes etc.
You will still have to agree a Claimant Commitment even though self employed but it would not include work search.

NedS

I wouldn't worry about this. Due to Covid, no one is considered to be gainfully self employed at the moment, hence the commitments appointment that has been booked. Your Work Coach will want to discuss your commitments with you for you to agree and accept. You can discuss your current situation and what your plans are for your business once things start to return to normal. You may be planning to continue with your business and hoping things will return to normal in the new year, or you may be at the point where you are going to fold the business and look for another job. Either way, you and your Work Coach will discuss your situation and come up with a set of commitments that are appropriate for you, for you to accept. This is a requirement for everyone on UC, regardless of being self employed or otherwise. No one is going to be asking you to look for or apply for jobs if you are self employed and plan to continue with that.

tomtom256

Exactly what NedS said.

There is no gainfully self employed decisions being made at present as there is currently no minimum income floor in force, so all unemployed customers as such, this is how the system sees self employed customers, have to have tailored commitments.

For self employed customers it tends to be along the lines of "I will continue to promote my business" and/or "I will take all reasonable steps to increase my self employed income".

Along with the generic reporting of changes, completing to-do's and attending appointments booked by your work coach.

foxy91

Many thanks for putting my mind a bit more at ease. I did ask on the journal thing and they did also say it will be commitments around my business in my case. So hopefully will go alright. It's booked for 9:30am in the morning tomorrow so wish me luck!  Thank you for all responses! 

debtox

How did you get on with this foxy91?

I am a company director and treated as self employed. My 'work coach' is trying to tell me I need to look for employment because I haven't been making any money during the pandemic. Which actually is partly due to the stupid way they assess on a cash accounting basis.

Did you have to make any commitments?