like i said i would never suggest it

of course it all depends on the nature of the business

I wondered if this was a tongue in cheek comment!!

sorry if it came across the wrong way.
x

I totally agree!

Hi there, just want to chuck my twopenneth into this discussion.

I am self-employed and currently on MA.

There is a little known clause for self-employed workers. It's not on any of the info you receive but if you get the right person on the phone when you ring up you will be told it's correct:

Once you have done your KIT days, if you then continue to work only parttime compared to what you did before (eg i did 5 full days a week) such as returning only 2 (max 3) days/week, then at their discretion they can pro-rata what you continue to receive. MA is meant to be calculated over a 7 day period. So i used to work 5 days, and so choosing to go back 2 days a week shoudl mean i continue to receive 5/7ths of the allowance until it's due to run out later this year.

As i said, no one seems to know about it until you push and they speak to a supervisor. That said, i have rung them after my 10 KIT days and been totally upfront and today have not been paid a penny. Just rang up to query it and was also told it will be based on what i earn. Which is odd, as my entitlement to SA isn't. SIGH.

Anyway, given you are only on 2 days/week self-employment anyway i'm not sure how that would work. And even if you get your employer to give you more money/hours so you qualify for SMP i think (not sure, just my opinion) that doing your self-employed work whilst on SMP would still not be allowed.

It's tough, as i'm having to go back as i'd have no client base left if i took 39 weeks off yet it looks like i will be penalised.

Hope this helps.

Fairy x