Contribution based ESA (also PIP) and lodger

Hi
I am on contribution based ESA and PIP.
I live alone in my own flat (no mortgage )
My partner left six months ago. ESA informed of change in circumstance.
I have a spare bedroom, am I able to do occasional air b & b? Or would contribution based ESA (support group) be stopped etc.
I’ve tried to read around but reading contradicting advice.
Thank you in advance.

Hi Gordon,

Appreciate this is an old post but it describes my position exactly. Is your answer still true in 2023? And do you have any official guidance or resources that state it?

I asked this question to someone at the DWP and he said it was a grey area, and that I would need to write a covering letter, and it would be decided by a Decision Maker.

I have been reading through the DMG chapters 49-51 and it appears to back up my position but it's pretty confusing.

Thanks for all the good work, from a newly signed up member

Thanks Gordon,

I'm going to give a little more detail here in case it is useful for others. I receive PIP and ESA (contribution based). I am unable to work at all.

I am hoping to take in a couple of friends as lodgers who will pay some monthly rent. The setup will be "living together" i.e. I am not doing any work like providing meals, laundry etc. PIP will not be affected, and if I understand correctly neither will contribution based ESA.

Looking at the decision maker's guides (which can easily be found by googling "DMG Chapter XX" where XX is a number) I get the following. This is what I will send to the DWP:



I will try to remember to come back here to update whether it was successful, though it won't be until later this year.

References used above:

• DMG Chapter 49 - 49013 The term employed earner means a person who is gainfully employed in GB: 1. under a contract of service; or 2. in an office (including an elective office) with general earnings


• DMG Chapter 49 - 49016 Earnings means any pay or profit derived from employment and includes… [long list of employment type payments. Rent definitely not included.]


• DMG Chapter 51 - 51000 With the exception of payments made to a person carrying out public or local functions, pension protection fund periodic payments, occupational and personal pension payments, income other than earnings does not affect the calculation of ESA(Cont)

oh and also there is

48006 Unlike ESA(Income Related), the amount of ESA(Contribution Based) that a claimant receives is not affected by all income. It is affected by
1. any pension payments and
2. any PPF periodic payments and
3. any councillor’s allowances which the claimant receives.