ESA, part-time work, £20 disregard?

Hi,

A friend is worried about being assessed for ESA because he works one morning a week. He has longstanding mental health issues and is concerned that by doing one morning of work a week, that he will be deemed fit for work entirely. He struggles to make it to this work every week and often has to phone to change the time he goes, shorten the time he goes for or try to go a different day of the week due to how he is feeling. He works for a friend who is flexible and understanding.

May I ask whether anyone has heard of anyone who works at all but has still been granted ESA on mental health grounds?

Also, he found out recently that he should have informed the job centre that he has been doing this work – which he didn’t realise because he thought it was ok not to if earning less than £20 a week. He’s very anxious about telling them now but has a form asking for any updates from them. Do you know how they might be likely to react so that he is prepared for this? He is on income support with a disability premium.

The other thing was – if he goes for assessment, fails and then chooses to appeal on assessment rate – would he be allowed to continue to earn his £20 a week and for the disregard rule to still apply, or would he have to give up this work?

Many thanks.

Hi Laika,

We couldn't offer specific advice to your friend except to say that a claimant does not need prior permission to do therapeutic work but should inform the DWP because doing work is something that could affect entitlement to benefits.

It is possible that the DWP will decide to reassess your friend when he declares his permitted work. That would mean that he would be assessed for ESA, as it is no longer possible to be assessed for IS or IB on the grounds of incapacity.

As far as I am aware there is nothing to prevent a claimant doing permitted work whilst on the assessment rate of ESA.

But do tell your friend to try to get specific advice from a CAB or similar.

Good luck,

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thank you very much for your reply. Is there any chance that my friend will have to pay back any benefits for having not informed the job centre about his disregard amount work?

Thank you again.

Hi Laika

He should only have to pay back benefits if his claim would have been affected. It's really something that he needs to get individual advice about from CAB or other welfare rights agency who can look at his personal circumstances.

Good luck

Derek

Hi Laika,

As Derek says, it depends on whether his claim would have been affected. If the decision maker concluded that the permitted work was evidence that there had been an improvement in your friends condition and that he no longer met the criteria for being found incapable of work from the date he began it, then an overpayment may be found to have occurred.

But there's a lot of stages, including a right of appeal, before that could happen. As Derek says, the most important thing is for your friend to get advice.

Steve

Your friend must be careful as being signed off as unable to work and then working will give them strong grounds for refusal of ESA. With the hard view ATOS takes, this might be a problem.

Get advice on this ASAP along with the best way to declare it. I know they extra money comes in handy but it could cost a lot more in the long run as the difference between assessment rate and full ESA is more than £20 per week.

If they are refused and appeal the wait is long. Mine has been over a year now and still no date. I'm sure they could work during this period but again it would not seem to be be a positive for your case. You will need strong medical evidence from their therapist (I have been told my Doctors opinion is not strong enough) as to their mental impairment and why they are able to manage to work with this condition.