Reporting self employed expenses to universal credit

[Flingawaynameuc]

Name changed as don't want this post attached to my other name.

Dh and I own a business but unfortunately due to the way the world is at the moment income has reduced. We applied for UC and have been accepted with business support.

We are due next week to report our income and expenses for the past month. We work from home, can anyone please help me work out how to report business costs like heating, electricity, Internet, phone etc.

We do it based on the one room used for business.

Ignore any kitchens or bathrooms/toilets. Count how many habitable rooms there are in your house. Divide your monthly/annual bill by that amount and that is what you claim.

For the internet, what proportion is used for business v non-business? That’s what is allowable there. So if 2 people use it for 8 hours a day 5 days a week for work, but 5 people use it for leisure activities for 6 hours every day, that’s

(2x8x5) + (5x6x7) = 290
80/290 = 28% of the internet being used for business.

I use the hourly flat rate

If you worked from homeWhat you should report
25 to 50 hours a month
£10
51 to 100 hours a month
£18
101 hours a month or more
£26

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-self-employment-quick-guide/business-expenses-you-can-report-to-universal-credit-if-you-are-self-employed

We aren’t on UC - this is how we calculate expenses for our annual accounts.

My work coach went through all this verbally and gave me print outs with notes to make sure I had the right information that was relevant to my circumstances.
He asked about the hours worked form home and phone bill, in my case it's £10 for use of home and £6 for my SIM card per AP.
It's not the same as you would do for a tax return.
Send them a message via your journal and they will clarify.

Thanks for all the great help. I've had a read on the UC information sheets, but I was confused about working out the rooms. Am I right in thinking you can't put bounce back loan on expenses?

For the flat rate reporting is that £ per hour?

Honestly, put a message on your journal for your coach, don't guess! Mine usually replies the same day.