Studying IT and want to work from home. - Page 2 — Scope | Disability forum
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Studying IT and want to work from home.

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Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,322 Disability Gamechanger
    Put the date you think you're going to start. As you'll be self employed then you don't have to give exact dates. Once you start earning then report the earnings each month.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • Chloe_Scope
    Chloe_Scope Posts: 10,586 Disability Gamechanger
    Thank you for your support here @poppy123456 and a warm welcome to the community @Will33! Just to let you know that I have removed your duplicate posts and everything is now in this thread. :) 
    Scope

  • Will33
    Will33 Community member Posts: 41 Listener
    Thank you, everyone, here for helping me and thank you, Chloe! But I still have other questions though. 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,322 Disability Gamechanger
    Will33 said:
     But I still have other questions though. 
    What other questions do you have?

    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • Will33
    Will33 Community member Posts: 41 Listener
    What happens if I earn more than the amount of permitted work in my first week because I wouldn't know how much I would expect to earn in my first week?
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,322 Disability Gamechanger
    Any weeks you earn more than the maximum amount then you won't be entitled to ESA for those weeks and it will stop. Being self employed you need to report your earnings to DWP but you need to make sure you don't earn more than £131.50 per week.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • newborn
    newborn Community member Posts: 832 Pioneering
    They don't seem  encouraging,  if in effect they are setting traps. A self employed business could do work in stages over a long period,  then wait a long time to be paid, and then go a long time without any more contracts.  The week the invoice finally cleared into the bank would be a week when on first sight, the earnings were high. But averaged over the whole period,  it might easily be well below  the limit.   

    Is there a way to have the business somehow as a holding trust, making small steady payments out of the occasional unpredictable income receipts?   At the end of the trading year,  there would be a fairer and better basis to adjust any over or under payments of benefits.  (Unless it is obvious from the start there will be great profits rolling in, making it pointless to continue with claiming housing benefits etc.)
  • Will33
    Will33 Community member Posts: 41 Listener
    @newborn
    who doesn't seem encouraging? 
  • Will33
    Will33 Community member Posts: 41 Listener
    @newborn
    could you tell me more and tell me what you meant, please?
  • newborn
    newborn Community member Posts: 832 Pioneering
    Those setting the rules. Self employed businesses are a pretty good idea for the economy. Working from home is ideal  for many disabled people.   
    Therefore,  a little help would be better than rigid rules operating too inflexibly.  Of course, nobody wants people who can earn buckets of money to be claiming benefits.  It isn't what you want to do. You just sensibly want to make  sure your best efforts at being independent don't  turn into a trap.
    One person  we knew years back on benefits had inherited money,  but the lawyers set up a trust to provide a small steady top-up to her benefits,  within a permitted amount for gifts.
    That was in the back of my mind.  

    Is the money earned by two month's  work counted as income for the week the invoice is paid,  or is it counted as income for two months, or even for three or four months, if no further work has been done?

    We have also encountered  a claimant who was owed a back payment of a year's  worth of benefits wrongly underpaid.   He had spent the year nearly starving, on a fraction of what was deemed minimum income to sustain life.. The benefits people  then stopped his entire benefits because he the backpayment meant he  had 'assets' in the bank.  They also declared to the tax people that he had a lump sum therefore ought to pay tax.

    That seemed harsh because the payment was a whole year's worth, and averaged over that time,  it would have been  far less than taxable.   His overall  circumstances had changed in no way, so it also seemed harsh to treat him as a rich person  not allowed benefits,  from the day  the overdue money arrived in his bank.  Maybe he could or should have appealed.
  • Will33
    Will33 Community member Posts: 41 Listener
    @newborn
    what do you think I should do?
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,322 Disability Gamechanger
    newborn said:

    We have also encountered  a claimant who was owed a back payment of a year's  worth of benefits wrongly underpaid.   He had spent the year nearly starving, on a fraction of what was deemed minimum income to sustain life.. The benefits people  then stopped his entire benefits because he the backpayment meant he  had 'assets' in the bank.  They also declared to the tax people that he had a lump sum therefore ought to pay tax.

    That seemed harsh because the payment was a whole year's worth, and averaged over that time,  it would have been  far less than taxable.   His overall  circumstances had changed in no way, so it also seemed harsh to treat him as a rich person  not allowed benefits,  from the day  the overdue money arrived in his bank.  Maybe he could or should have appealed.
    That's really not relevant in this case because the thread is about permitted work and not about benefit underpayments.

    Also a benefit underpayment is disregarded for 1 year from all means tested benefits.

    DWP would not have declared the backdated money to HMRC because it wouldn't have been taxable income.


    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,322 Disability Gamechanger

    As you will be self employed then you will need to keep accounts, which will need to be sent to DWP on a regular basis. Items which you purchase for your business will come under expenses which will be offset against your income.

    As i advised earlier on in the thread you will need to get some face to face expert advice regarding this.

    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • Will33
    Will33 Community member Posts: 41 Listener
    Do you think I can sort it out myself when I start to fill out the permitted work form and inform council tax? because my care coordinator and doctor wouldn't want my ESA to stop and housing benefits. I also get PIP and I don't know who I could ask to support me because if I asked my support workers they could say making money from home online isn't safe etc etc. But I am doing a franchise business. 
  • Will33
    Will33 Community member Posts: 41 Listener
    Well, I haven't started it yet just need to sort out a few things. 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,322 Disability Gamechanger
    I have no idea if you could sort this out yourself but you most definitely need face to face advice because if you do earn more than the maximum amount then your ESA will stop because you will no longer be entitled to it. This could also stop your housing benefit and council tax reduction.

    I'm afraid i have no knowledge of a franchise business and i won't be able to give you any further advice regarding this.

    You also need to be careful that the work you do doesn't contradict the reasons you're claiming ESA, as i previously advised.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • Will33
    Will33 Community member Posts: 41 Listener
    I remember an advisor said to me to make money first then report it as working from home has many things to report. 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,322 Disability Gamechanger
    As you will be self employed then you will need to keep accounts, which will need to be sent to DWP on a regular basis. Items which you purchase for your business will come under expenses which will be offset against your income. You will also need an agreement with DWP which items will come under expenses.

    I honestly don't think you're fully understanding all of this. It's not as simple as just starting a business while doing permitted work.



    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • Will33
    Will33 Community member Posts: 41 Listener
    No, I meant that I don't need to do permitted work but just do the business first then make money then report everything?
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,322 Disability Gamechanger
    Will33 said:
    No, I meant that I don't need to do permitted work but just do the business first then make money then report everything?
    No, sorry but that's not how it works. Doing that and you definitely risk having all your means tested benefits stopped. Please get some face to face advice as i'm unable to help you further because we are just going round in circles.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.

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