New Self Employed Electrician Won't Get Any Help Now.

Self employed find it nearly impossible to claim benefits anyway. Has anyone SE tried claiming during sickess lasting 6 weeks or less? No one does!, it`s a nightmare. As SE you don`t get sickness benefit you might apply for universal credit or claim ESA under your previous class 2 NI contributions. When phoning you are held in a que for 35 mins min to 1.5 hrsmax just to speak to a person , usually about 45 mins. Then get a Job Centre interview after 12 weeks then wait 7 weeks to get paid despite text message promises  £73.10 per week taxable. That was before this pandemic. It`s now probably ten times worse

I read this on the bbc yesterday and while it's a shame for him and his family, I thought he was somewhat deluded when he said ''I went down this path because I thought, if I go self-employed I can get a regular income and I don’t have to worry about redundancy again''. When has being SE ever been about getting a regular income? And he must've been one of the luckiest sparkys in the game if he received regular income from the outset. I've been SE twice over the decades and while I prefer it to paid employment, worry about where the next job is coming from is always just below the surface. I can't help thinking he viewed SE through rose glasses and didn't research it enough or glossed over negative views about it. Go SE, yes, but do so understanding and accepting the risk, highs and lows.


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Tried to get ESA after my first hip replacement, was knocked back because one of my assessment years fell under the lower earnings limit, I was back at work on crutches after a few weeks

If you`d have voluntary paid your class 2 NI for that year you`d have got it. If you`d paid later and they`d accepted it you could claim from 6 weeks after you paid it. Actually what this chancellor has done with the corona virus thingy is quite overwhelming generous by any standards believe me. If you only do have a ten week wait and most get it then that is paradise, believe me. You`d think you were in heaven compared to before the virus struck

Scary times and, I'm sorry to say this BUT, it's all been handled very badly! Anyways, that's what I think.


I tried to get through to my bank, today, and it won't allow you to talk to anyone, unless you've lost / or had your card stolen BUT, you have to dial another number... I went on their website and I started to talk to the thingy on there... after a few minutes' I realized I was talking to a 'bot' and not a real person... whats the point?


I have said, over the years', to anyone on here that wants to become self employed... DON'T do it... I keep on at my son to become a train driver or something similar... I've been there and know the sort fall's that being self employed incurs! 


The damage that Boris is causing will last for years' to come and he's doing it badly... I really feel for others, I really do - businesses will go bust and the high street will never be the same again... I wish everyone the best of, (I was going to say 'British), luck!!! 

Horses for courses, some people I know have been S/E all their lives and would not contemplate being cards in, others give it a go and jack after a few months, I took a what sounded like a good job last year, lasted two weeks, I felt like my very soul was being destroyed