Self employed 8 year contract with company suddenly ended on Boxing day. Please Help!

[Upshitcreeknopaddle]

Have name changed.
I am self employed but have had a contract with a firm to provide a service for the last 8 years.
The company has let all the contractors go as they over expanded too quickly.

As i am registered self employed and in receipt of working tax credits I don't know what on earth to do.

Do I need to unregister as self employed and claim benefits. (Universal Credit here so heaven help me) Can I even do that and tell them I'm not self employed anymore suddenly and just claim?

Can I stay as self employed while I seek a new contract elsewhere? Assume I would need to stop my working tax credit while I did so and reclaim?

If I decided to launch a similar service for myself similar to the service I have been providing for them do I need to tell Inland Revenue?

Please help as I am a single parent of two and completely stuck.

Sorry I'm not an expert but -

It sounds like you potentially weren't self employed but an employee of the company - they might have been fraudulently employing you

You need to tell WTC about your projected change in income

You ideally need to talk to an employment lawyer but maybe start with the acas helpline?

Do you want to get a job or be genuinely self employed?

My contract was definitely a self employed one. I was able to take other work had their been enough hours in the day. The position was mostly like a franchise but without the upfront cost really.

I have been applying for 'normal' for months too and not even had an interview so am happy to do whatever keeps a roof over my kids heads at the moment.

Normal jobs that should say.

Make an appointment with the CAB - they are usually very good on benefits advice,

If the companyy was your only source of work and they exerted a fair amount of control over what you did, hours, the way you did it etc then as others have said you may well not have been truly Self-employed.

I don't know how UC works yet but certainly suggest applying for help.

Thank you.
Interesting...
We had control over what hours we worked. I could have worked one hour a day or ten although the amount of tasks we were given initially would have meant a fair few hours meaning if you didn't spend hours doing it it didn't get done and there were daily tasks which we HAD to complete every day and then obviously other tasks and instructions which had to be done less often and some work was seasonal.

Firstly how easy or how long will it take for you to pick up work elsewhere as self employed?

Don't claim Universal Credit, until you have had professional advice, there are many options and UC is possibly the worst. Working Tax credits run on for 4 weeks after your work eventually ends but there is no need to rush to inform HMRC you can stay self employed and look for work, you can take holidays etc.

I wouldn't worry going too far down the route of worrying about whether you are self employed or not. HMRC accepted you as self employed for Tax Credits and self assessment. If you have housing benefit then they have accepted you as self employed also, don't muddy the waters by doubting yourself.

I have a full client contact base which I'm pretty sure some of which would come with me if I went purely alone.
I've also done some research into a very similar area.

I could probably be up and running on my own again within the next six weeks.

You can take holiday if self employed and on tax credits?

The company has access to lawyers so I'm pretty sure the self employed part will be watertight.

Yes you can take holiday without notifying HMRC, you can take sick leave and still have working tax credits for 6 months. I'm not saying you need to do this just demonstrating there are other options if you will be back on your feet soon. With 2 children you only need to be working 16 hours.

One of the key points about being self employed is, do you have autonomy over the tasks you do?

The whole employee / self employed thing is a bit of a minefield and a lot of companies sail close to the wind with regards the rules. But, as others have said, that’s the least of your concerns right now.

You can continue as self employed while you look for other contracts. Remember, if your return was picked up for enquiry you will need to have solid evidence as to why you apparently weren’t receiving income during this period, so make sure you keep copies of the letter terminating your contract and any letters you send out seeking work to show this.

You don’t need to advise HMRC of any new contracts because it is all just a continuation of your self employment. Just continue to return your income as you have done previously.

I'd recommend reposting on the Money Saving Expert forum as there are people over there who are absolute experts at this sort of thing