JSA and freelance work-few hours a week

margaret71

Hi there.

I am on JSA but have been getting offers to do some freelance writing. I am not sure if I should accept as I am not sure how it would affect JSA. The pay would be good but the work could be done in the evenings and would probably equate to 5-7 hours a week.

Other offer is for 4 - 10 days a month working from home on a consultancy basis and the days would not be guaranteed, they would be when and if needed.

Pay options would be that I would send an invoice and be reimbursed for that.

Its not regular, not guaranteed long term so I am not sure how this would work.

Would love some advice before I accept :-)

Balagan

As you are on JSA, the following are the kind of deductions they would make, where applicable, before they would assess the remaining cash income from your earnings as means.
Self Employment - Claimant
All Schemes

All expenses directly related to the self employment. In self employment cases the income is taken to be the gross profit less allowable work related expenses, but not drawings. Where the person has taken "drawings" from the business which are greater than the level of income thus calculated, the drawings are assessed as cash income.
There is no exhaustive list of all expenses allowed in self employed cases, since expenses vary with the nature and extent of the self employment. However the following are the main allowable expenses in most instances:
Materials (supplies costs)
Motor running costs (portion applicable to business)
Depreciation of machinery or equipment
Insurance relating to the business
Telephone (portion applicable to business)
Lighting and Heating (for business and not domestic use)
Advertising
Bank Charges
Stationery
Van Leasing
Labour Costs
Pension plan
and any other costs associated with running the business.
Household running costs are not allowed as deductions against business profit.
Class S PRSI contributions (where paid or payable) (Note if payable but not being paid, a separate report should be made by the Social Welfare Investigator on this aspect.)http://www.welfare.ie/EN/OperationalGuidelines/Pages/meansassess.aspx#sect2

margaret71

Thanks very much for the information. :-)