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8 years 4 months ago #191753 by TheDayToday
Voluntary work was created by TheDayToday
I'm in the support group for ESA, had to send in another ESA50 many many weeks ago and have heard nothing so I'm 'in limbo'.

I want to do a few hours voluntary work here and there. I'm very isolated and have less contact than a prisoner. I want to be engaged with an activity for my own sanity. :( This would necessarily be mostly done at home and wouldn't conflict with my declared health problems, because they are genuine. It would hvae to be organised around my health issues.

Given that I have an ESA50 in progress, can you advise?

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8 years 4 months ago #191774 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic Voluntary work
TheDayToday

Voluntary Work has a very specific definition, it is not simply a case of working for no pay, the activities you perform must be things that an employee would not normally be paid for. In general this limits claimants to working for a charity and it would be unusual, although not impossible that this could be done at home.

The DWP now require claimants to notify them if they start any work, including voluntary work and this information will be made available to an assessor, so you need to think about how this might impact on their view of you and whether they could make assumptions about your capabilities. Even if you think that the work is not at odds with your limitations an assessor may take a different view.

Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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8 years 3 weeks ago #198546 by TheDayToday
Replied by TheDayToday on topic Voluntary work
Hi again..

I am receiving ESA in the support group and looking again at the possibility of permitted work this would probably be as self employed. Let's say 6-8 hours of self employed work per week.

Since Universal Credit is being rolled out I looked at how this might affect permitted work. I'm confused about the rules regarding self employed work.

Assuming I was given the green light to do some permitted work as above, can you tell me what would be the impact on the process of being transitioned onto UC?

Do the same rules apply re permitted work? From my cursory searches I can't work out whether a person could be denied UC if they are self employed.

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8 years 3 weeks ago #198567 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic Voluntary work
TheDayToday

Your starting PW should not result in your ESA claim being moved to UC.

If you are asking about what would happen when your ESA is actually migrated to UC, I'm assuming that you are receiving Income Related ESA, then UC does not have PW, however you should be able to continue with the work as one of the key aims of UC is to allow claimants to work and still receive benefit.

Gordon
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8 years 1 week ago #199493 by TheDayToday
Replied by TheDayToday on topic Voluntary work
Thank you Gordon..

Seeing as it's "permitted work" does that mean I need to wait for approval before commencing with anything?? Or is it more the case I am entitled to do this and I'm just notifying them..

Also I see the rules are 16 hrs max per week, voluntary or paid, and £120 maximum in receipts. Is that per week or is there any averaging? For example, if in one month I did 0 hrs for 3 weeks, would I still be restricted by those to those terms for the final week, or is it averaged over the month.. ? Hope this question makes sense

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8 years 1 week ago - 8 years 1 week ago #199505 by slugsta
Replied by slugsta on topic Voluntary work
Hi TDT,

Yes, you must get permission before you start. It would be unusual for wages to be averaged out and, again, this would have to have been agreed in advance - in writing - by DWP.
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Last edit: 8 years 1 week ago by slugsta.
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