Chris

Having been unemployed for over a year Arthur, and desperately desiring to do something useful for my family and for society, yes, frankly, I damn well would get out of bed for a lot less than £13,000 a year. In fact, I am currently getting out of bed for somewhat less than £6,000 a year.

We have started two businesses of our own this summer. I am working as a freelance writer, which is my main skill, and we as a couple are also running B&B from our home. The writing is proving difficult to get going, but thankfully, due to our beautiful tourist location, the B&B is doing well. It is, however, just one bedroom, max. two people at a time, so it's never going to pay all the bills by itself.

I was up first thing this morning cooking breakfasts, having been up late last night making sure the kitchen was all set. Once the guests were happy and on the road, I turned to my desk and started thinking again about how to make the rest of my business earn me a wage. Because it's not going to happen if I'm too butt-lazy to get up in the morning.

Incidentally, I found HMRC very accommodating and prepared to add working tax credits to my account with them without any quibbles, and without my having to wait six weeks (where did you get that figure from, by the way?). They also accepted the financial projections from my adviser at Business Gateway and were happy to pay at the appropriate rate on that basis.

At the moment, getting out of bed in the morning is for me an exercise in faith and in determination. It is not something I feel I have the luxury of deciding to do or not to do.