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Self employed moving onto Universal Credit - questions about how it works

2 replies

ethermint · 25/01/2023 10:16

Hello all, I'm self employed, currently on old tax credits system / housing benefit as a LP working part time.

At the moment my savings are monitored by housing benefit, and they have been really helpful with telling me what is allowed and what isn't allowed when it comes to having assets / capitol. They disregard my business bank account savings (capital?) money in the bank when assessing my level of savings and I am always upfront with them asking their advice etc on all this.

At some point I will be moving over to UC and the bank account assessments will be taken over by them too.

Will the money in my business bank be counted as an "asset" or savings reducing my UC claim? It's quite a sum at the moment but if I go through a quiet period could quickly reduce. Are there any rules around how much money you can reasonably have in a business account before it's counted as an asset against your UC claim?

I don't want to do anything wrong at that point of moving over, and want to keep it all legal etc I am not sure when the date is I would just like to know how it all works so I can prepare as necessary as it may impact some business decisions as I may be taking a client break to focus on some creative work that will take time to build up and pull money in and will need some backup cash for this period. Thanks.

OP posts:
Tdcp · 25/01/2023 10:40

Hi OP, your business assets shouldn't be taken into account when you're claiming UC. DP wasn't asked at any point how much he had in assets, we were asked about savings but not business assets/business savings. You input your earnings / tax / deductions into the calculator every month and then they calculate how much you're entitled to for that period. If you are unsure though you can always speak to someone, in my experience they were always really helpful.

ethermint · 25/01/2023 10:56

@tdcp thank you that's super helpful!!

OP posts:
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