My partner had been on ESA and PIP for a little over a year now and has just been offered the opportunity to become self employed. This would allow him to return to work in a way that he would be able to manage with his illness and we are both very keen to try and get this off the ground. He would be forming his own company rather than being a self-employed contractor so money obviously wont start coming in right away.

My understanding is that PIP is unaffected by either working or self-employment, is that correct? If so its only ESA to worry about, obviously his ESA stops because he is going to be able to work (I am assuming this all goes well of course) So what do we do?

Do we talk to ESA and tell them the plan, and what we hope will happen with regards to the business taking off and becoming profitable? I assume at that point he would lose his benefit? But that's a lot of money to us and if we lose it before he starts bringing money in we might have a problem. He wont be doing many hours and obviously wont make a lot of money to start with but my earnings take us over the tax credits threshold so there wouldn't be anything else we could claim.

I guess what I want to know is what the steps are to coming off ESA to become self-employed and when we take each step.

PIP won't be affected.

Will he be working over or under 16 hours? If under there's something called permitted work.

At first probably not, I will read more about permitted work. thanks

Although PIP shouldn't be affected, make sure that nothing involved in the self-employment contradicts what was on the claim form. Also be aware that even though guidelines for healthcare professionals state employment status is irrelevant so long as the nature of the employment doesn't contradict the claimed care or mobility needs, it is usually taken to mean those needs are less than someone who doesn't work.

Re ESA, if at all possible go down the permitted work route to start with, though again be careful not to contadict anything previously claimed and be aware that it probably will affect future assessments.

It is possible for previous claims to be looked at again if the proposed employment obviously contradicts what was said previously. For example, someone who claimed to have limited mobility but is intending to become a personal trainer. It is possible for a disabled person to be a personal trainer, but it's likely to prompt DWP to look at the claims again with a view to checking for fraud.

This is my biggest worry, because his mental health has improved a reasonable amount. although his physical health is still the same. I worry that we will lose everything which is fine once things are up and running properly but in the short term we couldn't afford it. I have read that there is supposed to be support for people on esa going into self employment but I'm too scared to contact them in case they just stop his claim then and there.

I don't think its possible not to contradict what was originally said because things have honestly improved a bit and he was starting to think about maybe trying part time work then this came along and it is just so perfect for him and we do expect him to come off esa in the near future I'm just hoping for some way we can replace at least some of that money before his esa stops completely.