Want to go self employed now

Hi Kiera,

You can definitely go self-employed now! If you’re already on Universal Credit, speak to your job coach about it. They’ll help you run through your plans – you could even apply for the New Enterprise Allowance, which gives you access to business mentors to help you create a viable business plan before you launch. You’ll get ongoing financial support from UC payments (and in the first year, don’t have to earn the Minimum Income Floor to get access to benefit payments. When you’re self-employed, you report your income and expenses every month – anything above your UC earnings limit will remove 63p for every extra £1 you earn from that month’s payment.

But as income goes up and down when you’re self-employed, you can report each month – so low income months you’ll get more UC, and higher income ones you won’t get as much (if anything).

We’ve got some freelance and self-employed guides in our Small Business Ideas articles already – and keep an eye out for some more new guides to help you go freelance, too! Good luck 🙂