Reporting a change on universal credit

[littlebopeepp234]

I’m currently classed as a carer to my dc who is in receipt of DLA and have been put in the no work category. I was working 2 jobs, one self employed and one employed but decided to leave my employed job to concentrate more on caring for my DC and to grow my self employed business. However, I’ve gone to report the change on the UC portal and I’m not sure I understand what to do. It gives me the option to report whether I’m employed/ self employed/ or not working. I am worried that if I select the self employed option, will this result in cancelling out my current status as a carer and then have to go for another self employed interview at the job centre? Or will it keep my status as a carer while classing myself as just self employed? I cannot see an option where I can actually select that I left a job??

Could you leave a note on the journal for the work coach?

As above - just leave a note on your journal and make sure you follow it up if they don't respond.

Thank you. I have just left a note on my journal. Hopefully someone will get back to me.

You are caring more than 35 hours a week for somebody in receipt of a qualifying benefit so there are no work related requirements. I'm pretty sure you can also do stuff self employed without the usual hoop jumping though you will of course need to report SE earnings in each assessment period.

Thank you. Yes you are correct. I have always entered my SE earnings every month. I’m just not sure how to go about reporting that I’ve left my other job… or if I need to do so? I’ve left a message on the journal because when I’ve gone to report the changes on the portal there is no option to state that I’ve left one job.

When you report a change in employment you can report employed, self-employed, both employed and self-employed and unemployed. In the past you would have reported yourself as both employed and self-employed. PAYE earnings would come from HMRC, self-employed you report monthly.

You should therefore report the change as just being self-employed. The date of change would be from when your employed work ended.

As you are a carer you can't be gainfully self-employed so a new gateway interview should not be needed. You will just need to continue to report your self-employed income as you have been doing.

Thank you so much. I have just logged into the portal now and done this.

Update. I have done as you said and now received a message saying I need to attend an appointment at the job centre. What should I do from here?

I would ask them what the purpose of the interview is and remind them you are a carer and do not need to show you are gainfully self employed.

If they still want you to attend then go along and 'play it by ear' maintaining the position above regarding self employment. DWP staff don't always understand their own rules on this stuff!!

I have asked on my journal and it is supposed to be to confirm details of my self employment (despite them having these details already) and have been told that I shouldn’t need any more appointments after that

Just pop a message on saying the Self-Employed side of things hasn't changed, it's just your Employed Work that's ended.

It's just a system thing - changes to Self Employment prompt an appointment but as soon as they look, see there's no actual change in relation to SE and that you're non gainful anyway they'll just get it cleared.