Self employed HB claim
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I don't think you are correct about this. If you have just started self employment when you claim housing benefit then the award is based on a projection following which it is recalculated on actual earnings.
If you have already been self employed then it is based on past earnings over the previous 52 weeks so you have to provide the information in order for them to calculate your entitlement.
This does mean that if you make a good income from self employment but then hit a bad patch you will not immediately get housing benefit - effectively you are expected to put money aside during the good times. I realise, from your post, that this may not apply to you but just trying to explain how the system works.
Well I hope I'm wrong, but based on what the letter said, it doesn't look like I am.
I didn't earn very much at all during the last claim. This is why it stopped. And now that I've started again, instead of being satisfied with my projection, they're asking me to tell them what I earned during the last claim (they already know this because I told them which is why it stopped!), PLUS the period in between claims. The answer to that is £not a lot + 0.
They're not going to pay me hb. I know this. It says in the letter that if I haven't made significant income during all this time, I won't get it. They are going to judge me on the past, not the present. And that is what is unfair.
I know that people here are saying that they judge it based on the present and my projection (and they actually did do that for the previous claim), but what they state in their letter and what they're asking for says otherwise.0 -
Angus_Olivier wrote: »I know that people here are saying that they judge it based on the present and my projection (and they actually did do that for the previous claim), but what they state in their letter and what they're asking for says otherwise.
That’s the opposite of what I said in my post. I have said that your claim will be assessed against your income for the previous 52 weeks. Forward projections should only be used if you had only just started being self employed.
I don’t understand why they are saying you will not get HB if your income has been low and I can’t explain it.Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.0 -
That’s the opposite of what I said in my post. I have said that your claim will be assessed against your income for the previous 52 weeks. Forward projections should only be used if you had only just started being self employed.
I don’t understand why they are saying you will not get HB if your income has been low and I can’t explain it.
I have just started being self employed. I made my previous claim when I originally started being self employed, then hb stopped and I stopped my self employed job. And now I'm starting again.0 -
Angus_Olivier wrote: »I have just started being self employed. I made my previous claim when I originally started being self employed, then hb stopped and I stopped my self employed job. And now I'm starting again.
Sorry, I misunderstood and thought you had been self employed throughout. If you are starting self employment then projected figures should be usd. If you were simply unemployed (even if not claiming any othe benefits) you would be eligible for HB. The purpose of taking into account some projected figures is to reduce the risk of HB being overpaid.
I can’t explain what you are experiencing.Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.0 -
Sorry, I misunderstood and thought you had been self employed throughout. If you are starting self employment then projected figures should be usd. If you were simply unemployed (even if not claiming any othe benefits) you would be eligible for HB. The purpose of taking into account some projected figures is to reduce the risk of HB being overpaid.
I can’t explain what you are experiencing.
That's ok, I think I explained it in a bit of a confusing way. I've been registered as self employed the entire time, but I haven't been working the whole time.
Yes, I was originally self employed, I projected my earnings, I did some work for about 3 or 4 months, then they had a look at it again and decided that my income was very low so they stopped in april. Around the same time work dried up.
So between april and a few weeks ago I had no income. So when I started working again, self employed, I claimed again.
I thought they were going to do what they did last time, which is to simply ask what I think I'll earn. I already had a copy of the self employment decalaration form so I just filled that in, provided all the other stuff they usually ask for, and then that's when they asked me to show them my earnings from the start of my original self employment period all the way to the time that I made this claim.
See what I mean? They're trying to use info from a previous claim (which was already done and dusted, and resolved, and accounted for), plus the period of unemployment that came after. That's what I don't get.
I can understand that they probably have the discretion to ask whatever they want but I don't see the need for this, because essentially it puts me in a position where I'll get hb or not based on my paltry earnings from before, and if that's what they're going to base it on then I know what the answer will be and I can't change the past.
I'm pretty sure that if I started a job they wouldn't do this. Also I'm sure that if I started signing on they'd pay up right away, no questions asked.
I have a feeling that they are very uncomfortable dealing with self employed people, especially if they haven't earned much in the past (as is my case), because it complicates things for them. They want things nice and easy. I think this is why they're looking for any reason to just say no. But that's not fair. I know what the deal is with self employment. I know that they're supposed to judge it based on your earnings projection.
And here's something else. In their letter, they asked me to give them ID. I've already done that. I gave them bank statements and a letter from a utility company with my name and address. According to their own website these 2 things count as ID.
Either the person dealing with this is being very sloppy and lazy, or they're looking for any reason to say no.
Sorry for the rant, I just don't know what to do.
What if I just send them proof every week of my earnings until they pay?0 -
Unfortunately i’ve run out of anything remotely useful to say. I simply don’t understand the idea thAt you can’t get HB because your income is too low.Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.0
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Perhaps the OP could write out exactly what the letter from the council says about not being entitled to HB unless they have made significant income.
I am also very puzzled by this.
Stabbing in the dark here...………….. but I have known councils ask about periods of non employment to find out how the claimant managed to survive financially during this time. This seems to be a fishing exercise to see if the claimant had some kind of cash in hand employment, did not declare payments from self employment or received cash from somewhere. They might wonder why the claimant did not claim JSA during this period of unemployment.
However, this does not account for the fact that the OP's HB was stopped because of low income - never heard of this.
OP, were you claiming working tax credits when you were previously on HB or when you stopped working/self employment dried up?
Only guessing really.
Perhaps the OP should visit CAB with the letter and see what they say about this.0 -
So lets try and get this straight.
You only ever sent in a projection of self employed income for you first claim of self employment - you never sent in documentary evidence of your income and expenditure for this period of time?
When we assess self employed income for someone newly self employed we use a projection for the first 13 weeks (3 months) of the claim. We then ask for 13 weeks income and expenditure to calculate the next 3 months HB entitlement.
If the claimant fails to supply this the claim is suspended then cancelled.
We never cancel a claim because someone isn't earning enough!
Please clarify from the first time you claimed Housing Benefit to date what you income and financial circumstances have been month to month.
Have you been self employed nil income self employed?
For what periods did you get Housing Benefit?
For any period of low or nil income where you got no Housing Benefit how have you survived and paid your rent?I enjoy flower arranging, kittens, devil worship, the study of serial killers and their methods and road kill jigsaws.0 -
It may help of you can tell us what you estimated as your income for the first period of self employment and what the actual figures were.
What did the letter saying they were stopping HB actually say?
Did they perhaps consider the 'too low figures' indicated that you were not actually working?0 -
Afraid_of_Kittens wrote: »So lets try and get this straight.
You only ever sent in a projection of self employed income for you first claim of self employment - you never sent in documentary evidence of your income and expenditure for this period of time?
When we assess self employed income for someone newly self employed we use a projection for the first 13 weeks (3 months) of the claim. We then ask for 13 weeks income and expenditure to calculate the next 3 months HB entitlement.
If the claimant fails to supply this the claim is suspended then cancelled.
We never cancel a claim because someone isn't earning enough!
Please clarify from the first time you claimed Housing Benefit to date what you income and financial circumstances have been month to month.
Have you been self employed nil income self employed?
For what periods did you get Housing Benefit?
For any period of low or nil income where you got no Housing Benefit how have you survived and paid your rent?
I've sent you a message.0
This discussion has been closed.
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