[Wolves] Business Start Up (Was Proposed Talks)

[Claire]

As an Ex sole trader I'd recommend the Director route. As a sole trader 
your National Insurance payments only go towards our pension, meaning 
that should you in the future need to claim jobseekers allowance or 
indeed claim anything whatsoever apart from tax credits or income 
support (which you can't anyway if your partner earns anything more than 
a pittance) you won't be able! :(

Furthermore you will remain able to claim for diddly until you have two 
full years of PAYE under your belt  or the higher payments you would 
make as company director.

The downside to being a limited company is having to file proper 
accounts and have them publicly available. Depending on your turnover 
and profitability that might be a good thing or a bad thing when it 
comes to securing credit accounts with suppliers or contracts to supply.

As a sole trader your credit worthiness is based largely on your 
personal credit score which you can fond out (and should make a point of 
doing so anyway to correct any errors or issues) through services such 
as creditexpert. There are 3 main credit scoring agencies in the UK, 
Equifax, Experian and a smaller one I cant remember the name of. They 
all share information so sorting things out with one *should* propogate 
it though to all but dont trust that to chance!

Business Link have a wealth of information on your responsibilities, 
which can be an eye opener. Don't rush into business on a romantic 
notion. Do your homework, then do some more. Any startup budget you work 
out, double. Any timescale, lengthen. And as for advertising.. :O

Hope it helps!
Claire (still jobless btw ;) )