Self-employment and universal credit

Universal Credit has some particular rules if you are self-employed, such as applying a deemed amount of earnings known as the minimum income floor in some cases. In addition, the way earned income from self-employment is worked out is not the same as it is for income tax purposes.

If you report that you are self-employed, DWP or DfC then need to consider whether the income from your activity counts as self-employed earnings for universal credit and also whether you are  gainfully self-employed.

Income from self-employment is taken into account as earned income when DWP calculate your universal credit award, regardless of whether they decide you are in gainful self-employment or not.