Benefits advice for young self employed

JayneKJH

My son has just returned from University and is now working as a sports coach.  Based on his incomings and expenses (mileage) I did a Universal Credit calculation and it came back with £76 a month!!  I'm sorry but how are youngster supposed to live on this amount of money.  Anyone have any ideas on any other help he could get?  It makes you think it's better if they don't work

sheramber

How much is he earning? 

Is he living at home?

Spoonie_Turtle

JayneKJH said:

My son has just returned from University and is now working as a sports coach.  Based on his incomings and expenses (mileage) I did a Universal Credit calculation and it came back with £76 a month!!  I'm sorry but how are youngster supposed to live on this amount of money.  Anyone have any ideas on any other help he could get?  It makes you think it's better if they don't work

Well no, because (inferring he's single and under 25, living at home) if he wasn't earning anything then he'd have to be living on £316.98 per month in total.  As the calculator comes back with £76 that means he's earning ~£438 per month so he'd be living on a total of £514 per month instead.

Because he's self-employed, after 12 months they would be expecting him to earn a minimum of 35xNMW per week, which assuming he's 21 having returned from uni is currently £427.35 per week, so about what he's currently earning in a month.
(£1851.85 per month minutes any tax, and they base income calculations on that after the 12 months is up so he'd not be entitled to any UC.  He'd have to choose whether to just find more work either coaching or something else as well, or give up self-employment to be eligible for continued UC while he searches intensely for full-time employed work and attends appointments to prove he's doing that in order to continue receiving payments.)

itsthelittlethings

JayneKJH said:

My son has just returned from University and is now working as a sports coach.  Based on his incomings and expenses (mileage) I did a Universal Credit calculation and it came back with £76 a month!!  I'm sorry but how are youngster supposed to live on this amount of money.  Anyone have any ideas on any other help he could get?  It makes you think it's better if they don't work

Yes, universal credit is absolutely nothing. He would not be better off if he didn’t work, as you keep 55p in the pound of what you earn.

NedS

JayneKJH said:

My son has just returned from University and is now working as a sports coach.  Based on his incomings and expenses (mileage) I did a Universal Credit calculation and it came back with £76 a month!!  I'm sorry but how are youngster supposed to live on this amount of money.  Anyone have any ideas on any other help he could get?  It makes you think it's better if they don't work

I appreciate that you are looking to support your son in his endeavours, but...

Does he have a viable business plan to substantially increase his self-employed earnings in the next 12 months?

If not, perhaps he would be better placed seeking a graduate job with the opportunity to develop his skills and earning potential. Failing to achieve even the very lowest hurdle of minimum wage and looking to the benefits system for help seems like wasted potential to me.