Advice - General / Benefits and pensions

What can a freelance do if the cost of living overtakes your income? Or if you become a parent? Or retire? Or if you fall ill?

The UK national insurance and benefits system was built on the assumption that a normal person is an employed person, not a freelance. Perhaps ironically, as the system has eroded - with entitlements such as pensions being described as "benefits" and all actual benefits falling well behind inflation - the effect of this assumption on freelances has in some respects decreased.

Here we offer general advice - not least so that you know what questions to ask of an adviser if need be. Amounts are illustrative, at the dates given, and will likely have changed.

We have not attempted to go into detail about the benefits that may be available to people with disabilities or to those who care for people with disabilities. Any attempt at summarising the maze of disability benefits risks being misleading. We would recommend contacting specialist advisers such as the Disability Law Service or the charity SCOPE - and we would welcome feedback on these and suggestions for others.

Nor have we attempted to cover all the countries in which NUJ members live and work. We give links below to the most prominent sources of advice in the Republic of Ireland. We would welcome suggestions for more and better advice on that country and others.

There is a lot of advice to give. It is divided into sections as below: