Let's talk about self-employment - [PDF] - Niace

Regulations and the legal side of being self-employed
If you’re starting a limited company, you have to register with
Companies House. For more information, call the Companies
House Contact Centre on 0870 33 33 636 or visit
www.companieshouse.gov.uk. You can also use this website
to check that the company name you have chosen isn’t
already being used by someone else.
Claiming benefits
If you are claiming benefits when you start working for
yourself, it is essential that you keep your Jobcentre Plus
Advisor up to date with what you are doing. You may be able
to keep some benefits but as you start to earn money others
may stop. If you aren’t claiming anything then it’s a good idea
to check if there are any benefits available to you. For example
if you become self-employed via New Deal, you should be
able to claim benefits as well as a New Deal allowance in the
early days. For more information on New Deal see our
Further resources section (at the end).
Getting the right paperwork
As well as registering with the taxman, it’s important to check
that you don’t need a licence or any special papers for the
work you’ve chosen to do. Things like working with children,
selling food and alcohol do require licences. Your local
authority is the place to go for these and you’ll need to have
all the paperwork sorted before you start. You can search for
the details of your local authority at www.direct.gov.uk.
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