ESA Self Employed Earnings on Book Royalties

BJ wrote: Hi New to this site. Recently diagnosed with HCV, Cirrhosis and primary liver cancer. I am a self-employed gardener, struggling now to work & will soon be claiming ESA. I have in the past authored a few ebooks on gardening/trees which bring in approx £60-80 pm in royalty sales each month. My question is how this may affect my ESA submission?. I declare this each year to HMRC, so pay tax on it, but now it is 'passive income'. How should I approach this, & if I were to take up writing again at some point (physically incapable now of gardening), could it be allowed under permitted work? I'm 62. Thank you all-wonderful site, incredibly helpful information

There are two aspects to this dependant on your eligibility for ESA.

If you have sufficient NI Contributions in the Tax Years 2013-14 and 2014-15 then you can claim Contribution Based ESA, if not then it will be Income Related ESA.

First the money will be treated as income and you will need to inform the DWP if you are receiving ESA(IR), your ESA(IR) will be reduced as a result.

Whether you receive ESA(CB) or ESA(IR) if you do any work, including your writing, then you need to inform the DWP, they should treat it as Permitted Work (there is a guide in the ESA section), the situation is complicated as your current income is not related to any work that you might do now, but it is possible that they will link the two which may mean that you income is disregarded, you'll have to discuss the situation with them to see what can be agreed.

Gordon