Help with claiming benefits for the first time

[ItsGoingTibiaK]

Hi,

I'm self-employed, ltd company with just me in the business. I've just seen all of my future bookings, and so income, disappear for the foreseeable future. My partner is a part-time teacher and that salary just about pays the mortgage, but nothing else.

I've never claimed any kind of benefit before so I'm not familiar with the systems. I am doing the calculators now for UC and ESA. I'm reading everything I can but, to be honest, my mental health has taken a huge blow this week and I've finding it hard going.

Anyone have any tips and advice? I'm particularly confused about being able to claim both UC and ESA.

Thanks.

you need to apply for universal credit straight away - takes 5 weeks to process.

you need to input all information and they will decide how much £you will be entitled to.

sorry for your situation, its not a good position to be in

you need to apply for universal credit straight away - takes 5 weeks to process.

you need to input all information and they will decide how much £you will be entitled to.

sorry for your situation, its not a good position to be in

Apply for UC and contribution based JSA if you can not sure how it works with self employment. also get in touch with council tax to check if a reduction is possible. Any other creditors get in touch with and they will help - most have given me a three months holiday no questions asked given the current climate.

Sorry your in this situation, it’s new for me too but hopefully not long term!

You could only claim new style ESA if you are too unwell to work ( you would need to go through the work capability assessment), otherwise it's new style JSA. Claiming UC would depend on your situation, how much your partner earns, number of children etc.

If your an employee of your own limited company surely you should be looking into the Job Retention scheme to pay 80% of your wages?

Regarding 80% of wages, I could be wrong, but I think HMRC classes a sole director of a limited company who is on the payroll as self-employed in this case. Which means applying for UC or the Job Seeker allowance is a safer bet than waiting for applications to open for 80%. I'm struggling to clarify that myself though.

Use the UC calculator on Martin Lewis's site. It's up to date with the latest change to minimum income floor.

You are not self employed, you are an employee of a company. Are you paying yourself properly through payroll or just taking dividends. If you have an accountant speak to them now.