self employment and claims

wilding45

I have had a discussion with the Belfast center which seems to imply the following.

If you are self employed and you are falling below your assumed income floor then you should consider closing your claim and re submit after closing your business and state that you are completely unemployed in your new claim. If you do it by closing your business whilst your claim is active you have willfully made yourself unemployed and would possibly get punished.

Pippa_Alumni

Welcome to the community @wilding45, and thanks for sharing this with us. I wonder if @Gill_Scope can advise here?

Waylay

I've heard from other people who have been told this by DWP staff.

poppy123456

No, you won't have to close the existing claim and start another.

Self employed and UC with the minimum income floor explained here.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/claiming/self-employed/

[Deleted User]

Hi @Wilding45

An issue that you might have whether you reduce your hours or stop working in the middle of your claim, or when you make a fresh claim is that of notional income. If you don't avail yourself of an income other than universal credit (UC) that you could have, the DWP might (but only if you are quite unlucky) say that you should avail yourself of that income rather than claiming (more) UC. 

This is described in Universal Credit Regulation 60 - it's the same rule that applied with legacy benefits. 
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/376/regulation/60

You would need to get medical evidence that you couldn't carry on working,  I suppose, if the DWP did invoke this regulation. 

Sometimes, you just have to do what's necessary, and cross this and any other bridge when you get to it. 

Good luck with finding the right way forward  for you.

Gill_Scope