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Hi everyone, really hope I can write this down in a way that makes sense because I'm confusing even myself at the moment.
Long story short I am a self employed "telephone actress"
I've been doing this for about 4 years and my average income from it is usually between 5-7k per year. Last tax year I didn't log on anywhere near as much as usual and ended the year on 3.7k and got a huge refund from tax credits which I lived on for about 2 or 3 months without doing any work at all. I worked September-December and then started my maternity leave (Maternity allowance which from what I've read is not an income you declare) which leaves my total earnings for the year at about 1.6k for those couple of months that I worked.
Hope your still with me!
Because of this low income my housing benefit/council tax benefit also went up to compensate the lower earnings BUT when I started claiming maternity allowance I have lost all my council tax discount completely and my housing benefit has dropped from £80+ per week to £31 - please don't get me wrong and think I am complaining about this I just want to give as much detail as I can so hopefully someone can give me accurate advice!
I am now receiving full MA (136.78 p/w), 20.30 child benefit, 152.12 p/w tax credits and my housing benefit is a total mess because I got one payment too many at the higher rate and now owe them £109! so they are now only paying me £16 p/w until the debt is cleared. As well as now having to pay full council tax on top of all my other bills and buying food and gas I'm left with pretty much nothing to buy the new baby things and feel a lot worse of on maternity than I was working. I was told by the council this morning that while I am recieving MA they treat that as a benefit and not an employed income so I lose some kind of extra allowance I was getting before...
So we get to my question, well done if you are still with me!
I understand that during MA I am able to use 10 keeping in touch days - please someone correct me if I am wrong but I am of the understanding that I could work for 1 minute or 24 hours solid and it would count as one KIT? So what I am hoping to do is this...
As my income for the year is so low due to MA not being counted I could still earn another 2k this year without it causing me to have received an overpayment of tax credits for the year - I was considering using up my 10 days before the baby is due - if I put in 10 hours in each day I can make between £50-£100 depending on how busy the phone lines get.. can anyone tell me whether they think this is a good idea? I know it would be perfectly fine for tax credits but I just don't understand housing benefit now they don't class me as employed does that mean I don't declare my KIT day income?
Hope that made sense and someone can give me some advice on how I can boost my income til LO is here xxx
Long story short I am a self employed "telephone actress"
I've been doing this for about 4 years and my average income from it is usually between 5-7k per year. Last tax year I didn't log on anywhere near as much as usual and ended the year on 3.7k and got a huge refund from tax credits which I lived on for about 2 or 3 months without doing any work at all. I worked September-December and then started my maternity leave (Maternity allowance which from what I've read is not an income you declare) which leaves my total earnings for the year at about 1.6k for those couple of months that I worked.
Hope your still with me!
Because of this low income my housing benefit/council tax benefit also went up to compensate the lower earnings BUT when I started claiming maternity allowance I have lost all my council tax discount completely and my housing benefit has dropped from £80+ per week to £31 - please don't get me wrong and think I am complaining about this I just want to give as much detail as I can so hopefully someone can give me accurate advice!
I am now receiving full MA (136.78 p/w), 20.30 child benefit, 152.12 p/w tax credits and my housing benefit is a total mess because I got one payment too many at the higher rate and now owe them £109! so they are now only paying me £16 p/w until the debt is cleared. As well as now having to pay full council tax on top of all my other bills and buying food and gas I'm left with pretty much nothing to buy the new baby things and feel a lot worse of on maternity than I was working. I was told by the council this morning that while I am recieving MA they treat that as a benefit and not an employed income so I lose some kind of extra allowance I was getting before...
So we get to my question, well done if you are still with me!
I understand that during MA I am able to use 10 keeping in touch days - please someone correct me if I am wrong but I am of the understanding that I could work for 1 minute or 24 hours solid and it would count as one KIT? So what I am hoping to do is this...
As my income for the year is so low due to MA not being counted I could still earn another 2k this year without it causing me to have received an overpayment of tax credits for the year - I was considering using up my 10 days before the baby is due - if I put in 10 hours in each day I can make between £50-£100 depending on how busy the phone lines get.. can anyone tell me whether they think this is a good idea? I know it would be perfectly fine for tax credits but I just don't understand housing benefit now they don't class me as employed does that mean I don't declare my KIT day income?
Hope that made sense and someone can give me some advice on how I can boost my income til LO is here xxx
) 10-days work for me in total works out at approx £1100 after all taxes. I did this with my last mat leave and it took them 2-months to process their payment 
