BTWEA help needed

Barrel

Hi,

I'm thinking of applying for BTWEA, I'm a plumber and I had a business up till 2009 but it went bang, I worked for a plumber from 2010 till the end of 2012 when he went out of business, I have been on welfare from 2013 till now so the 12 months or more singing on is ok ...

My question is because I had a plumbing business before can I still apply for BTWEA starting up a new plumbing business?

Thanks.

Cushie Butterfield

The Operational Guidelines http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Back-to-Work-Enterprise-Allowance-Self-Employed.aspx don't state that you aren't eligible.

It is after all a 'back to work' iniatitive, so the fact that you were previously self-employed in a similar business shouldn't really have an adverse effect on anyone.

Once you satisfy the eligibilty criteria I can't see why you wouldn't be considered. Of course it would be up to you to come up with an acceptable business plan & financial projection, so you would probably have to be prepared to say why this business would be more successful than your last one, but considering the amount of businesses that were forced to cease trading at that time you could easily get around that question imo. If worded correctly you could use the fact that you have previous experience as a positive.

The only mention of previous employment in the guidelines is that five years must have elapsed since an applicant can re-qualify for the scheme itself if they have previously been on it. This at least shows that being previously self-employed doesn't go against you forever.

The only real problem I could foresee would be if you owe Revenue any money, or perhaps any amounts owed to creditors but once you can provide documentary proof of registration with the Revenue Commissioners you should be ok in that regard.

Barrel

Thanks for taking the time to write, That's perfect I think I'll set up a meeting with them and see if I can do this ... Fingers crossed