It's even worse than that. You might be unlikely to want to claim Job Seeker's Allowance but you are far more likely to want help if you are ill for a period as my wife and business partner has recently been. Forget it. You jump through lots of hoops, answer lots of questions and get zilch. Well actually no, they did pay her national insurance contributions, but didn't tell us that so we've paid them twice.

Three or four months later we receive a letter saying she has to complete a form and attend an interview to continue claiming. Her original claim said clearly it was for six weeks to recover from an operation.

When we queried this, we were told that the system automatically generated letters checking claims, but couldn't cope with telling us they were paying the NI.

For such as tiny amount of money it is a joke, as it has taken far longer to deal with them than you would ever hope to receive in payment.

just operate as an LTD, it's cheaper and easier. Employ yourself !