Universal credit what my husband to go to the job centre, AIBU?!

[ImEasyLikeSundayMorning]

After a string off 'errors' that occurred out of nowhere, we have been kicked off tax credits, and we cannot reapply.

Both DH and I work full time and have not been out of work for many many years.

We can only apply for universal credit. We are entitled to a very small amount towards DC3's childcare but we are absolutely broke and desperate so need to apply.

Despite checking and double checking, during the application they did not ask for DH's income (self employed), but they did require mine.
DH had a phone interview today and has to go to the job centre next week to prove he is self employed and working.

We hare always just used his self tax form for that in the past.

Who can just drop work like that with a weeks notice?! I know I can't.

Is this a normal expectation?!

Blimey how patronising is this?

Why do people say 'kindly', I see it a lot on here, it sounds ridiculous

You have no idea where her husband works, where the job centre is, how long the appointment is and what the travel time is so you cant say he will be away for an hour tops

So of course she is bloody stressed, its a fact.

I'm not a troll and I've reported a thread up there for this.

DH works very long hours but will be rained off, or sometimes wait around for deliveries.

He also took 3 weeks off over the summer holidays to have put youngest because they CM was on holiday.

And so on, and so forth.

If he had paid n.i. for 2plus tax yr he can claim contributory based which doesnt take your salary into account for 6mths

If he can quite easily be rained off or take time off to wait for his deliveries then popping to the job centre can't be that difficult?

he doesn't work 57 hours a week.

how did you work this out? Does he have a machine which he presses and he arrives at work with all his tools, with no travel? 🧐

Well it's annoying but that's life isn't it. You cope with it the same way you cope if a child is unexpectedly ill on a work day, or you have a medical appt that cannot be rearranged or you need to stay in for an emergency plumber/gas engineer or whatever.

He doesn't take time off for rain and deliveries out of choice!

In fact, because he has to do this, other time is even more precious.

I get it though, you aren't married to a builder and I understand that you don't understand.

I don't think I would either.

When you are self-employed you claim motor expenses for use of car to travel to jobs. Therefore travelling is a business expense and falls in the working hours. You said your husband works 11.5 hours a day, presumably 5 days a week? That's 57.5 hours. Basic maths really

He is not paid is not paid for that time.

That is even more basic, surely?

OP and her husband must have a joint annual income of well over £55k, so I'm not sure why/how they qualify.

Sorry OP I'm just completely baffled as to how in a climate where people are crying out for builders and where average day rates can be around £350 even outside key cities, your husband appears to offer the lowest rates in the UK.

You got a supremely obstructive adviser, then, @Mfsf . Virtually the same situation with ds1 and ours pushed everything through and turned off those obligations there and then.

But if he's not earning a decent wage as a builder then something is wrong as he should be earning/charging a lot more. Someone upthread said £200 a day as a minimum, which sounds reasonable to me and would still have all materials on top.

Even if he only works 40 weeks a year, that's still £40k pa and he claim 45 pence a mile off his tax bill, meaning that his tax will be lower than an employed person on that much.

So he needs to look at his rates, or his approach to finding work or whatever because if he's on much less than that, he's underselling himself signficantly, which is silly when he could earn more and you could do with more money coming in.

I was warned that tptb might want to probe deeper but in that case I could submit fit notes for that period.

Average daily rates £350?!

For who?! The person who owns the company?! DH doesn't.

Did you just Google that??

The problem is that a lot of people claimed they were S.E. doing Avon/MLM of your choice for example and getting full UC when they werent actually working at all. Of course they got away with it at first but now they have to be so careful to weed the liars out.

Sadly its not great for you but as always the few fuck it up for the rest of us.

Fucking hell, op has said they only get a bit towards childcare . Why on earth would he bother jumping through hoops if he was on 40 50 k for a bit of childcare

Not everyone in the building trade earns that much, no one has any idea what it is exactly that he does

Ignore people, some people just don’t get it. I’ve had to juggle childcare for six weeks take time off when my daughter was sick. I’m not going to an interview at a job centre during my working hours to prove I am looking for work when i work. It makes no sense whatsoever. I work 30 hours so not far off full time

OP, you said your husband is Self Employed. Now you're saying he works for someone else. Which is it?

Perhaps he is a labourer working for builders then that wage would be abt right.

Yeah maybe he does.
I don't question his rates or his pay.

He has said for a while he should be paid more. He got a pay rise (as of this month) but it's not as much as £200.

he is probably a CIS sub contractor

He's sub-contracted before anyone calls me a troll again.

I was just going to say has no one eber heard of subcontracting

Lots of people do it in the building trade , they aren't all rolling in it