UC and being self-employed

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edytka
edytka Posts: 1 Newbie
in Benefits & tax credits
Hi there,


I have question about UC.


My husband is in part time employment and earns around 30k while for last two years I was unemployed and was looking after children at home. I receive UC payments of around £800 per month.


I would like to go back to work now in my spare time. My free days and hours are vary, so it is difficult to find something, this is why I am thinking about being self employed.


I tried to find information on-line and talked to friend, but was told that once i register, I will loose UC...



Could anyone explain how does it work, how much I can earn without loosing any UC and what to check first?


many, many thanks!

Comments

  • calcotti
    calcotti Posts: 15,696 Forumite
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    edited 22 October 2018 at 10:02AM
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    It may be that you have no work search requirements because of your family commitments and your husband's income in which case I don't think you need to do anything other than inform DWP if you have any earnings from doing the occasional job.

    After 12 months self employed people can be treated by DWP as having a minimum amount of income even if they are not earning it. However I'm not sure how this works in the context of a couple with reasonable level of employed earnings coming in already. I haven't got time to explore that at the moment.
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.
  • huckster
    huckster Posts: 4,821 Forumite
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    With your husbands earnings, you would most likely not have any working requirements.

    However, if you started being self employed you would still need to advise UC and attend the Job Centre to verify this. This is because UC are going to want you to advise your self employed income/expenses every month and any net income would be taken into account when your monthly UC payment is calculated.

    Please be aware that after 12 months of self employment, UC will apply a minimum income floor (presumed income). This would depend on ages of children and what caring responsibilities you have. But it could be presumed income of 25 hours per week at national minimum wage and this could be added as income used to calculate the monthly UC payment. So if you were not earning this amount, you would have to think whether to stop such work, as you could end up worse off.

    If you do start self employment, please do talk to the Job Centre Work Coach about these issues.
    The comments I post are personal opinion. Always refer to official information sources before relying on internet forums. If you have a problem with any organisation, enter into their official complaints process at the earliest opportunity, as sometimes complaints have to be started within a certain time frame.
  • calcotti
    calcotti Posts: 15,696 Forumite
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    huckster wrote: »
    With your husbands earnings, you would most likely not have any working requirements.

    However, if you started being self employed you would still need to advise UC and attend the Job Centre to verify this. This is because UC are going to want you to advise your self employed income/expenses every month and any net income would be taken into account when your monthly UC payment is calculated.

    Please be aware that after 12 months of self employment, UC will apply a minimum income floor (presumed income).

    The minimum income floor will not be applied if household circumstances are such that there are no work search requirements https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/universal-credit/guidance/entitlement-to-uc/self-employment/minimum-income-floor/

    If claimant is only doing limited work they will not be ‘gainfully self employed’ which would generally mean there is a work search requirement but this cannot be imposed if household income is already high enough
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.
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