Permitted work/ cash in hand.

I am currently claiming legacy ESA, in the support group. One of my friends has a class in the local Community centre and has been encouraging me to start a book/ journaling/ creative writing class (once or twice a month) because those are my hobbies and in a past Job, I did facilitate support groups.

The problem is, the places who have rooms to hire charge £30-40 per hour for rent, which I can't afford to pay out of my benefits. Last year, I did have a 15 hour per week permitted work job, but I ended up being investigated for benefit fraud due to my employer accidentally putting "35" in the hours worked box on the payroll instead of "15". I had to send all the evidence, and my manager sent a letter to confirm it was a cock up at head office, and it got sorted, eventually. But it cause a lot of stress. And the problem I'm facing is, if I charge people just enough to make no profit, and just cover the room rent then how can i prove this when everyone will be paying me cash? The local community centres encourage cash for payment for classes (a couple of them don't even have cash machines in the cafe/ social space) I'm just worried I'm not going to be able to prove my income if the DWP want proof. I might be overthinking things, but after my previous experience, I don't want that to happen again.


I have EUPD and that can cause me to decline quite quickly, but being stable for a few months now. And having a purpose is really good for my mental health. I have quite low self esteem. I do volunteer at the moment at a charity, but that office is closing soon, due to funding cuts, and I'm not sure what I want to do, and my friends have encouraged me to try to put something together myself. Where I worked last year (and my volunteering role) I work with people I know. I've had a traumatic situation at work previously (I was gaslighted by my boss, who claimed I didn't do work I knew I had done, and used my mental health condition against me. She was later fired for bullying) and that's left me feeling nervous about starting work at a new place; even voluntary, where I don't know people. I am having CBT to help deal with that fear.

I might be forced to claim UC soon (I have a lot going on, and I will probably post, asking for advice about those things at a later date) but I'm trying to deal with one issue at a time, so i dont get overwhelmed. I am interested in starting a class/ book group and I can cancel/ ask a friend to fill in if I am having a bad day. But even the libraries charge £30+ for a room and the free room spaces are only open to charities/ CICs.

I just want to know if there is a way I can do this without it causing potential issues. I can't contact my local welfare rights service, as I had a bad experience with them a few weeks ago so I don't trust their advice so I joined this forum hoping I could get some advice.

Thank you.

Hi Mistee, given how few advice places there are in some areas, and you can't trust the one you've had an issue with. One way to deal with proof of income for a class where each member pays you their fee in cash, if you can still buy one, is an old school carbon copy receipt book. And a class register. So say ten people sign up, you log their attendance in the register. Yes it's a nuisance, but each week you write out a receipt for each class member. You could do it in advance, and any no-shows, you write across the pre-written page "absent" and leave the top copy in.
All those who come, you exchange the top copy for the cash. Then every week or two, try to do it often and regularly, pay the cash into the post office or bank and staple or paste the receipt in your register. With this much evidence, I would hope you would be covered. Also staple or paste receipts for the room hire and any other expenses like photocopying or printing materials like handouts. Maybe even get someone to countersign eg attendance register: "seven attendees, 12th August 2024"

Hi Debby,

Thank you for the reply. That's a great idea. Thanks so much.