|
Self-employed universal credit claimants, who are found by DWP to be' gainfully self-employed', may be subject to the minimum income floor (MIF). If the MIF applies, the claimant’s actual earnings from self-employment are ignored and instead their universal credit is calculated based on the MIF.
The MIF is usually calculated as 35 hours a week x relevant minimum wage rate, less a deduction for notional tax and national insurance. One impact of the MIF is that if a self-employed claimant earns a low amount in a particular assessment period, for example because they had less work or because they had a large business expense to pay, their universal credit will not increase to reflect their fall in actual income.
Advertisement 
“If the minimum income floor applies to a self-employed worker, that will therefore also increase from April 2023 as a direct result of the announced increase in the minimum wage. The MIF is effectively substituted for the person’s actual self-employed earnings and as income rises, the amount of universal credit awarded usually reduces.
"As a result, some self-employed universal credit claimants may not see the full value of the April 2023 10.1 per cent increase in universal credit. This may well be detrimental for those self-employed workers who cannot simply increase their income in response to a minimum wage increase and is yet another complicated interaction between various systems that may catch people unaware.”
Autumn Statement 2022
For more information and expert analysis on issues relating to freelancers, contractors and small businesses in the Autumn Statement see Shout99's Political News section.
Further IR35 information
For more information about all aspects of IR35, including the controversial IR35 reforms see Shout99's News on IR35 section.
--
If you wish to comment on this article, please log in and use the Reply button below. Registering is simple and easy to do online - see 'Join Shout99'.
--
The Editor
|
