For nearly the last six years I’ve been struggling to keep the Welsh Icons sites running. Yesterday I received a letter telling me that my working tax credits had been stopped as they didn’t believe that I worked for more than 35 hours a week.
Yes, that’s right I claim benefits. I also worked out a while ago that I would have to be on benefits for more than 200 years to get back most of what I’ve already paid into the system.
The Welsh Icons sites cost nearly £200 a month to run. That’s about £2,400 a year. I get around £2,700 a year to live on. Yes, I get a trickle of revenue from advertising and sponsorship but I still end up earning less than £0.20 an hour from running this site.
The tax office has even refused to even look at the site to get an idea of the number of man-hours that goes into it. They have also refused to allow me to send them details electronically. They even requested all my emails for the last year on paper – I got over 11,000 last week!
This is not a plea for funding – I just need enough to live on.
Sorry to admit this but Welsh Icons is a one man and his cat operation but I have done my best to provide you with politically-agnostic information about Wales and all things Welsh over the past 5 years.
Thanks to everyone who has helped.
What do I do next? Answers on an email please,
Dom
Editor – Welsh Icons
PS. When I asked the nice 12 year old at the tax office what I should do for food he suggested I should sign on. I did point out that it would cost the state at least £15 more a week.
