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Coc-work-ESA & CA
- craigd
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9 years 2 months ago - 9 years 2 months ago #131101 by craigd
Coc-work-ESA & CA was created by craigd
Hello
At present I receive CA for looking after my wife. I'm hoping to start taking on some work on a self employed basis and have contacted both the CA and HB to ask how to go about this. Seemingly it is quite straight forward, which in itself is quite worrying.
Having done some research I am concerned that my declaring that I am starting work may trigger a 'New Claim' procedure. As my wife suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia I am extremely wary of initiating a situation where she will have to face an assessment process.
My wife was on long term IB before moving to the Support Group around 2012. This was done purely through form filling and she was never called to an assessment with ATOS. On applying for her esa85 (I think this is the form number) we discovered that she was earmarked to be allowed this for 2 years this would have made the reassessment due last year of which she has heard nothing.
At present she receives:
ESA(C)
ESA(IR)
DLA Care Higher
DLA Mobility Lower
Housing Benefit
Council Tax Benefit
And I receive CA.
I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of what to expect if I were to go ahead and declare that in the future I will be Self Employed. Will this trigger the need for a new claim? Any wisdom much appreciated.
Cd
At present I receive CA for looking after my wife. I'm hoping to start taking on some work on a self employed basis and have contacted both the CA and HB to ask how to go about this. Seemingly it is quite straight forward, which in itself is quite worrying.
Having done some research I am concerned that my declaring that I am starting work may trigger a 'New Claim' procedure. As my wife suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia I am extremely wary of initiating a situation where she will have to face an assessment process.
My wife was on long term IB before moving to the Support Group around 2012. This was done purely through form filling and she was never called to an assessment with ATOS. On applying for her esa85 (I think this is the form number) we discovered that she was earmarked to be allowed this for 2 years this would have made the reassessment due last year of which she has heard nothing.
At present she receives:
ESA(C)
ESA(IR)
DLA Care Higher
DLA Mobility Lower
Housing Benefit
Council Tax Benefit
And I receive CA.
I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of what to expect if I were to go ahead and declare that in the future I will be Self Employed. Will this trigger the need for a new claim? Any wisdom much appreciated.
Cd
Last edit: 9 years 2 months ago by . Reason: Tick.
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- Gordon
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9 years 2 months ago #131106 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic Coc-work-ESA & CA
craigd
There is no reason to assume that your starting work will cause a re-assessment of your wife's claim, however, you do need to be aware of several things.
First, as you are claiming CA you are required to provide 35 hours per week of care for your wife, you should be careful that the work you are doing, even though it is self-employed does not call in to question your ability to provide this care.
For CA you cannot earn more than £104 per week after deductions, this amount will change in April, you also need to check what deductions are allowed.
Any income from your work will be deducted from your wife's ESA(IR) payments £ for £, if the ESA(IR) is fully eroded then payments will stop and any associates benefits will cease as well, Housing Benefit uses substantially the same calculations, so there is the potential for this to cease as well.
Gordon
There is no reason to assume that your starting work will cause a re-assessment of your wife's claim, however, you do need to be aware of several things.
First, as you are claiming CA you are required to provide 35 hours per week of care for your wife, you should be careful that the work you are doing, even though it is self-employed does not call in to question your ability to provide this care.
For CA you cannot earn more than £104 per week after deductions, this amount will change in April, you also need to check what deductions are allowed.
Any income from your work will be deducted from your wife's ESA(IR) payments £ for £, if the ESA(IR) is fully eroded then payments will stop and any associates benefits will cease as well, Housing Benefit uses substantially the same calculations, so there is the potential for this to cease as well.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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- craigd
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9 years 2 months ago #131110 by craigd
Replied by craigd on topic Coc-work-ESA & CA
Hi Gordon
Thanks for the info.
I'll be working on an ad hoc basis as an artist and in general won't be anywhere near the weekly limit for hours worked and income generated. However the work I do is quite well paid so some on occasion I will earn a lot more than the weekly limit. I've explained this to all the Agencies concerned and all have come back to me stating that they accept Income as being averaged over 3 months to begin with then over the year as a whole. Does this sound right?
As you say some things are not deductible as they would be for Tax purposes, would you know where I can find more detailed information on this?
With regards to ESA(IR), when you say that once fully eroded then associated benefits will stop does this mean that HB will stop entirely?
For example: if my wife receives £50 ESA(IR) pw and I earn £50 pw then this will fully erode ESA(IR) and she will no longer receive any HB?
If so does it follow that if I earn £49 and my wife subsequently receives ESA(IR) £1 pw then she will receive full HB?
Cd
Thanks for the info.
I'll be working on an ad hoc basis as an artist and in general won't be anywhere near the weekly limit for hours worked and income generated. However the work I do is quite well paid so some on occasion I will earn a lot more than the weekly limit. I've explained this to all the Agencies concerned and all have come back to me stating that they accept Income as being averaged over 3 months to begin with then over the year as a whole. Does this sound right?
As you say some things are not deductible as they would be for Tax purposes, would you know where I can find more detailed information on this?
With regards to ESA(IR), when you say that once fully eroded then associated benefits will stop does this mean that HB will stop entirely?
For example: if my wife receives £50 ESA(IR) pw and I earn £50 pw then this will fully erode ESA(IR) and she will no longer receive any HB?
If so does it follow that if I earn £49 and my wife subsequently receives ESA(IR) £1 pw then she will receive full HB?
Cd
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- Gordon
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9 years 2 months ago #131126 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic Coc-work-ESA & CA
craigd
For acceptable deductions see the following
www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financi...its/carers-allowance
It mentions earnings of £102 per week, the amount is updated separately from the CA legislation, I thought the current figure was higher, but I cannot confirm it.
Any arrangement you have with regard to CA and HB for the averaging of your income does not apply to ESA(IR), you would need a separate agreement for this. Make sure that you have everything in writing.
With regard to the ESA(IR), if you earn £50 and your wife's ESA(IR) is £50 the ESA(IR) will not be payable and any benefit that is enabled by the ESA(IR), such as free prescriptions and dental care will be lost.
With regard to Housing Benefit, HB uses basically the same figures to calculate entitlement as ESA(IR) so using your example figures I would expect your HB to cease as well, but I cannot state this for certain as it is not a benefit that we advice on in the forum.
Gordon
For acceptable deductions see the following
www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financi...its/carers-allowance
It mentions earnings of £102 per week, the amount is updated separately from the CA legislation, I thought the current figure was higher, but I cannot confirm it.
Any arrangement you have with regard to CA and HB for the averaging of your income does not apply to ESA(IR), you would need a separate agreement for this. Make sure that you have everything in writing.
With regard to the ESA(IR), if you earn £50 and your wife's ESA(IR) is £50 the ESA(IR) will not be payable and any benefit that is enabled by the ESA(IR), such as free prescriptions and dental care will be lost.
With regard to Housing Benefit, HB uses basically the same figures to calculate entitlement as ESA(IR) so using your example figures I would expect your HB to cease as well, but I cannot state this for certain as it is not a benefit that we advice on in the forum.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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