Challenges and strategies

Personal and business skills training.
Disabled people who have been out of work for some time can often feel that their self-confidence is low. This will impact on their motivation and their ability to develop their business idea. Training courses on confidence-building and self-esteem will be valuable in developing their own personal resources and resilience whilst setting up their businesses. Training on communication, presentation, marketing and business planning will be useful in building up clients’ skills as well as giving them the opportunity to network with others who are setting up in business.

Learn Direct has a number of e-courses on career and business development. Details on www.learndirect.co.uk .
The client’s local council for voluntary service (CVS) will often have details of local training courses. Details of local CVS can be found at www.navca.org.uk, the National Association of Voluntary and Community Action.
CENTA (www.centa.co.uk) is a London-based specialist business advice service serving Camden, Islington, Westminster and the City of London. East London Small Business Centre at www.goeast.org can offer help and advice in the East London region.
National specialist business advice on www.businesslink.gov.uk,
Visit www.dti.gov.uk/bbf/small-business/index.html or ring 0845 600 9006.

Benefits
Two of the key barriers to disabled people becoming self-employed are the fear and the reality of losing benefits. This loss would threaten their personal survival income, the basic income they require for items such as housing, food, heat and light. Sound financial planning is essential to enable clients to identify their income from benefits and earned income and their expenditure. They can focus on what they will need as a basic income and consequently the income they will need from any business.

Your client may currently be receiving some of the following benefits:

Incapacity Benefit (IB) is paid to those who are unable to work full time (more than 16 hours per week) because of illness or disability.
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is designed for people who need help looking after themselves and for people who find it difficult to walk or get around. It is made up of two parts, being a care component and a mobility component.
Housing Benefit (HB) is designed to help people on low income to pay their rent.
Council Tax Benefit (CTB) helps people on low income to pay their council tax.
Income Support (IS) is a means-tested benefit for those who are not working for 16 hours a week or more.
Working Tax Credit (WTC) is available to self-employed disabled people who are working at least 16 hours per week and are:
- at a disadvantage getting a job due to sickness or disability, and
- meet the qualifying benefits test, or
- returning to work after sickness and eligible for fast-track route.

Eligibility for WTC is calculated for self-employed people on profits for the accounting period which forms the basis of assessment for the year of your client’s tax credit claim. Some income and capital is ignored, such as Child Benefit, HB, DLA, Attendance Allowance and the lower, short-term rate of Incapacity Benefit.

The amount of tax credit received is taken into account for the purposes of HB and CTB. This may mean that many people receiving tax credits will have an income which is too high to receive these benefits, unless the client’s rent/Council Tax is higher than average. Clients may, however, still find they are better off receiving tax credits, even if they lose all their HB or CTB. If a client has been receiving HB or CTB and they are awarded tax credits, it is important that they notify the HB and CTB service to avoid any overpayment that may have to be paid back.

Start-up finance
This is one of the major barriers for disabled entrepreneurs who, in common with most Business Advisers’ clients, will often have no easy access to start-up finance, loans or grants. You should encourage your client to have a well-drafted business plan when preparing to approach potential lenders. Having a good plan will demonstrate professionalism, commitment and thorough preparation. We have listed some organisations that provide information on low-cost financing for business development, and the eligibility conditions, in the Financing section