Hi there
Am posting on behalf of a friend. Last year he was made redundant, so he went down the contractor route: he started contracting for a firm and as with so many organizations who use contractors, he had to set himself up as a company, drawing dividends, etc., rather than paying himself a salary, etc., etc.
His contract has now ended slightly earlier than he thought it would (he's fine with this, he understands it's the nature of contracting): my question is this, whilst he is looking for new work, should/can he sign on - he is not looking for benefits (he has savings) but wants to know if he should be doing this to keep up his NI contributions, or does the fact that he is technically a company bar him from doing this? And is someone in this situation is actually entitled to say income support, rather than JSA, or what have you? As ever, the guidance on the DWP website is "opaque" to say the least!
Any thoughts welcome!