ESA and Four Weeks Employment Opportunity

[obiter dictum]

Being afflicted with severe arthritis and other medical conditions i am in receipt of ESA and in the support group.

 

I have been contacted by my previous employer who I was medically retired with. They have asked me to put together a Power Point presentation for them to use as an educational tool with employee health and safety.

 

This presentation will be forumlated at my home as i am mobility impaired. The employer will pay me a wage as a temporary employee for a duration of a 40 hour week, four weeks maximum. The contract will then automatically terminate.

 

What i am worried about is if i accept this contract will the ESA be terminated? People on ESA know the inquisitions you have to go through and i am never going through that again.

 

So my question is can my ESA claim be kept live but payment suspended of those four weeks while i am in receipt of a salary?

[Nystagmite]

There is something called permitted work. (I don't know much about this. Just that it exists) But you can't do any more than 16 hours a week.

[reallymadwoman]

If at all possible you must do this work within the 'permitted work' regulations as if you take a full time job, even if only temporary, you are directly contradicting the finding that you are 'not fit for work related activity'. At best, you might expect to see your benefit reduced to WRAG, at worst you'll be invited to claim JSA instead.

[obiter dictum]

Even though this report will be done under my own four walls on my own PC??

 

That is what i was afraid of.

 

It is simply not in my best interest to take this temporary contract as i know the abuse i will be subjected to afterwards by the establishment.

 

Many thanks for the clarity

[Max1968]

I'm not an expert but I agree with Reallymadwoman. By taking something like this you are just saying to the DWP that you are fit for work related activity.

[Noah1]

Being afflicted with severe arthritis and other medical conditions i am in receipt of ESA and in the support group.

 

I have been contacted by my previous employer who I was medically retired with. They have asked me to put together a Power Point presentation for them to use as an educational tool with employee health and safety.

 

This presentation will be forumlated at my home as i am mobility impaired. The employer will pay me a wage as a temporary employee for a duration of a 40 hour week, four weeks maximum. The contract will then automatically terminate.

 

What i am worried about is if i accept this contract will the ESA be terminated? People on ESA know the inquisitions you have to go through and i am never going through that again.

 

So my question is can my ESA claim be kept live but payment suspended of those four weeks while i am in receipt of a salary?

 

ESA would be terminated because you work. I'm not sure about volunteering.

[honeybee13]

I don't think it's that straightforward, Noah1. Here's a link to turntous with good information.

 

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Employment-and-Support-Allowance-Permitted-Work/What-is-permitted-work-(Employment-and-Support-All

 

HB

[Noah1]

I don't think it's that straightforward, Noah1. Here's a link to turntous with good information.

 

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Employment-and-Support-Allowance-Permitted-Work/What-is-permitted-work-(Employment-and-Support-All

 

HB

 

Permitted Work was mentioned already in this thread and as far as my knowledge goes is rarely approved.

 

 

Statistically the DWP tends to take a harder line in order to prevent abuse (working people claiming ESA).

 

 

I would still advice to be cautions, because we don't know all the details of this particular claim.

 

 

His experience however was summarized in:

'People on ESA know the inquisitions you have to go through and i am never going through that again.'

Therefore I wouldn't take chances, but this is not my decision to make.

[antone]

Permitted Work is frequently approved. The whole point of PW is to allow people to test the waters when it comes to working without fearing that they might lose their benefits if they find they can't manage.

 

Volunteering is almost never rejected.

[tomtom256]

As it will be 40 hours per week you may not get premitted work, the rules are clear on what you can can't do for permitted work, it depends on what they are going to pay you see https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/eligibility

[Noah1]

Permitted Work is frequently approved. The whole point of PW is to allow people to test the waters when it comes to working without fearing that they might lose their benefits if they find they can't manage.

 

Volunteering is almost never rejected.

 

I've never heard of volunteering beeing rejected at all. However I've heard of permitted work being rejected or people had to stop claiming ESA. Could you please send a link as to where you get that statistically Permitted Work is frequently approved?

[antone]

I've never heard of volunteering beeing rejected at all. However I've heard of permitted work being rejected or people had to stop claiming ESA. Could you please send a link as to where you get that statistically Permitted Work is frequently approved?

 

I worked for the DWP. My colleagues and I made many PW referrals. They were nearly all approved. I have no reason to suspect either of the two offices I worked in was markedly different from the national norm. What's your source?

[shadowskill]

To the OP - it's very simple, IF you're in the support group it means you can't work and need support from us the taxpayer to fund your life. If you're now saying you can actually really do a full week's work after all, then it kinda feeds into all the horrible Daily Mail stereotypes that are probably best avoided perpetuating here...?

[antone]

To the OP - it's very simple, IF you're in the support group it means you can't work and need support from us the taxpayer to fund your life. If you're now saying you can actually really do a full week's work after all, then it kinda feeds into all the horrible Daily Mail stereotypes that are probably best avoided perpetuating here...?

 

No, it is not that simple. There are systems in place to allow people to attempt work without fear of losing their benefits if it turns out they are not as fit as they thought. These systems are ultimately beneficial to both the claimant and the taxpayer since, without them, many people will not actually take up work at all, given the possible consequences of failure.

 

The Daily Mail is responsible for its own obnoxious stereotypes - none of us are obliged to change our behaviour because of them.

[Noah1]

I worked for the DWP. My colleagues and I made many PW referrals. They were nearly all approved. I have no reason to suspect either of the two offices I worked in was markedly different from the national norm. What's your source?

 

My source is my ex-charity work and I assume we had to deal with a lot of 'rejects' then. I wonder whether it was because they were recoving from alcoholism, drugs, were in debt, had lack of education, work-experience so complex cases.Volunteering was a way forward for them.

[antone]

My source is my ex-charity work and I assume we had to deal with a lot of 'rejects' then. I wonder whether it was because they were recoving from alcoholism, drugs, were in debt, had lack of education, work-experience so complex cases.Volunteering was a way forward for them.

 

Hmm, well, it may be that there's a degree of prejudice against people with such problems, yes. There isn't supposed to be, but these things do happen of course. However, DMs should not be rejecting PW requests unless the terms of the work breach the rules of the scheme. By that I mean, say, too many hours per week, or earnings above the relevant limit, or work not paying NMW and so on. "I don't like the claimant" (or any other subjective view) is not a valid reason to reject PW requests - any such rejections should be challenged as a matter of course.

[Noah1]

Hmm, well, it may be that there's a degree of prejudice against people with such problems, yes. There isn't supposed to be, but these things do happen of course. However, DMs should not be rejecting PW requests unless the terms of the work breach the rules of the scheme. By that I mean, say, too many hours per week, or earnings above the relevant limit, or work not paying NMW and so on. "I don't like the claimant" (or any other subjective view) is not a valid reason to reject PW requests - any such rejections should be challenged as a matter of course.

 

I think it explains that I am cautious. I witnessed sanctions or claims being stopped. I guess when you work in the DWP office you do not see negative conseqences as those people come to charity for help

successfully processed claimants do not have such need.

[antone]

Claims are not sanctioned or stopped because PW is rejected.

[Noah1]

Claims are not sanctioned or stopped because PW is rejected.

 

there were obviously other issues such as failing to attend WCA.

[fletch70]

So in fact permitted work in these cases had nothing to do with it, or it is quite likely they had nothing to do with it.

 

Right or wrong failure to attend wca will in all likelihood cause stopping of ESA . In any event, as far as I am aware you can not do PW until you have been assessed and placed in eith wrag or support group.

[Noah1]

yes but there is no point to elaborate about other cases it was repeated WCA after years

[antone]

there were obviously other issues such as failing to attend WCA.

 

So you know of people who had their benefits stopped for reasons that had nothing to do with PW or even Rapid Reclaim. So what has any of that to do with this thread?

[antone]

yes but there is no point to elaborate about other cases it was repeated WCA after years

 

No indeed, there is no point in elaborating about matters which are not relevant.

[flumps1976]

Previously working in a JCP office I saw a lot of people who asked about permitted work and the vast majority were approved by the ESA Decision Maker team if they were if the WRAG or the SG as being int eh sG means you are likely to need more support not totally written off for everything. I have only even permitted work turned down if the work went against the reasons they were signed off by their GP eg severe back pain and wanting to do Permitted work as a labourer on a building site with part of the job role to include heavy lifting.

Voluntary work is nearly always accepted as long as it is reasonable again you wouldn't be accepted if you were to volunteer for the labouring job if signed off with severe back pain.

 

The paid work of 40 hours for 4 weeks would terminate your claim i'm afraid as it wouldn't meet the conditions for permitted work and would be classed as full time paid employment. Would the employer allow you to do it for a longer period with shorter hours each week?