University of Chichester

Self-Employment

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General self-employment

Prospects has a comprehensive section on self-employment: www.prospects.ac.uk/links/selfemp.

Sussex University has a good set of links at: www.sussex.ac.uk (search under 'self-employment' on the Sussex site). The Sussex Innovation Centre is based at the University of Sussex and is a business incubator: www.sinc.co.uk.

The National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship was set up specifically to raise the profile of self-employment as a career option for graduates. Information and resources are at: www.ncge.org.uk.

Nesta's Creative Pioneer Programme supports graduates to become creative entrepreneurs. The programme provides access to business training and funding for those with innovative creative ideas. It is for graduates up to five years out of higher education: www.nesta.org.uk

Business Link is a national site with detailed information about self-employment and running a small business. There is an advice line to contact regional advice centres: www.businesslink.gov.uk. The local centres are:

Arun Enterprise Gateways offers advice, support and mentoring to anyone thinking of setting up a business, becoming self-employed or who already runs a small business: www.arunenterprisegateway.co.uk.

BHP Information Solutions Limited have set up a variety of websites covering aspects to starting up your own business, which include looking at marketing and law. Access these websites via the following links:
Start Up Donut
Law Donut
Marketing Donut

HM Revenue and Customs has a section for people starting and running their own business: www.hmrc.gov.uk/startingup/index.htm.

The Prince's Trust provides start-up support for businesses. Eligibility criteria include being between 18 and 30, being unemployed or working up to 16 hours a week, and having not been able to fund the idea from other sources: www.princes-trust.org.uk.

Shell LiveWIRE supports 16 to 30 year olds to start and develop their own business. Services include a free 'Start a Business Toolkit': www.shell-livewire.org.

The Site (aimed at young adults) has a section providing information for those considering self-employment: www.thesite.org/workandstudy/working/selfemployed.

The South East England Development Agency (Seeda) is responsible for the area's economic development and regeneration and has funding opportunities for businesses: www.seeda.co.uk.

CommercialiSE is an initiative University of Chichester is part of to link university knowledge with business expertise in the South East through innovative business ideas. Funding and support are available: www.commercialise.org.uk.

Flying Start is a dedicated company who help students and graduates think of and develop business ideas and then turn these ideas into start-up businesses, they have various workshops and programmes running throughout the year. They have also developed a free eBook titled ‘Make Your Passion a Success’ which can be downloaded from the following link www.makeyourpassionasuccess.com

Social enterprise

Social enterprises are businesses that exist to fulfil social aims and the majority of the profits are reinvested to these aims. The links above will be useful but some specific information about social enterprises can be accessed from the links below:

Business Link includes information about social enterprises in several areas, a good starting point is their overview: www.businesslink.gov.uk (shortened url - navigate from the 'starting up' section).

Sussex Enterprise support and represent businesses in Sussex, including social enterprises.

Cabinet office paper on Enhancing promotion and support for social enterprise.

Self-employment while being a student

It may be that self-employment is an appropriate source of income for you while you are a student - music teaching is one example. If so, you will need to register with HM Revenue and Customs and complete a tax return (even if you don’t think you’ll earn enough to pay tax). The main source of help for this is from HM Revenue and Customs. The following pages should be useful:

www.hmrc.gov.uk/students/self_emp_studs_14_1.htm

www.hmrc.gov.uk/students/work_in_term_and_hols_9_1.htm (scroll to the bottom of the page)

www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxandu/saw_se.htm

http://studenttaxadvice.direct.gov.uk/index.html

More general information about working while being a student (including information about tax and National Insurance) is on the Jobshop page. In Jobshop we do not advertise opportunities that require you to be self-employed. The information above is intended for your own initiatives.

The links at the start of this self-employment page may also be useful for starting a business while being a student.