LCWRA - Self Employment

justadad

Hi,

Short background…

My daughter is disabled and in receipt of LCWRA, she has a number of conditions that affect her but predominantly Learning Issues, ASD and PTSD. She does not really leave the house and when she does she needs to be accompanied and hence has only online friends.

She enjoys gaming online and likes to stream these games when playing, this is her only real means of social interaction and is normally manageable as it can be controlled as well as providing a delay in requiring a response. She started doing this for mental health reasons some 12 months ago.

Anyhow…

Somewhat naively, I was not aware that in the background funds were being generated.

[Q] I assume then that if this is the case then we need to declare her as self employed?

[Q] If so how do we go about that and will the DWP automatically recognise that she is not "gainfully employed" due to the LCWRA or is there something further that needs to be done?

[Q] No money has been withdrawn from the streaming service at any point and we are not in anyway attempting to keep it without declaring, so will she get into any trouble for not declaring as self employed earlier or can it be treated as a trialling stage and just declare the earnings after declaring her as self employed?

If it helps the money generated over the 12 months is approx £850

The online streaming should not contradict her LCWRA reasons.

Any help and advice appreciated.

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

Yes, just need to make a change of circumstances regarding earnings/employment. This can be done in the online journal.

She will need to report her earnings every month from now on.

Due to the LCWRA, there is a Work Allowance of £673* before any deductions are made. So it will not affect her payments, and she will not be expected to look for additional work.

(*I have assumed she lives with you and is not claiming housing costs. The work allowance is £404 if also claiming housing costs)

While the money is kept on the streaming service, this could be counted as capital, after the month in which it has been earned as income, though as long as she is well under £6000 total capital, that will also not affect her payments.

T0i

@OverlyAnxious

I apologize for taking over on the OP thread, but my queries kind of go along the subject so.. let me ask you something please :

I have a LCWRA for a while now since I have been dealing with multiple physical limitations but also some mental health issues.

As far as I can understand, universal credit recipients that register on HMRC as sole traders, are then bound to achieve certain goals, like the minimum income floor, and requirements like growing your revenue up to some numbers etc.

On the other hand, the '12 month start up period if you’re self-employed' that some recipients get do no apply either isn't it ?

My question is, those same requirements do not apply once we got the LCWRA right ?

I have been wondering if I should start my own little online business, mainly on eBay, and go from there, and that's the reason why I'm posing the questions above.

Very grateful, kind regards.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1027951#Comment_1027951

Hi,

You are correct. If you get LCWRA then you are not expected to look for work or earn a particular amount.

You will just have to notify UC of the change in circumstances and declare your earnings on the final day of the assessment period each month.

As long as you stay below the Work Allowance (which has increased slightly since I wrote the previous post) then your UC payments will stay the same.

T0i

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1027965#Comment_1027965

Got few more questions if you don't mind me asking please.

I really haven't got that much experience or references when it comes to benefits, but I have been reading a lot about it lately and sometimes things get a bit fuzzy, if you know what I mean.

Do I really need to open a business bank account ?

Business income is declared to UC and not the HMRC, despite having to register the business with the latter right ?

Anything else in your opinion that I must take in account when going sole trader, being on benefits and having the LCWRA ?

Thanks a lot for your help.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1028867#Comment_1028867

No problem.

There's no need to open a specific business bank account. You can just use your normal current account for this. However, it might be easier to work out your earnings if you do use a separate account for work.

If you earn more than £1000 a year, you will also need to declare your income to HMRC once a year for tax purposes.

The main problem with working on LCWRA is that it could contradict the reason you were awarded LCWRA in the first place. I wouldn't generally expect an Ebay Store to contradict anything from the Work Capability Assessment but only you know the reasons that you were awarded LCWRA.

T0i

Thanks so much for your prompt input.

I need to ask for an assessment report on my LCWRA to get to know exactly what is that has been registered, but what I said to them over the phone back in time, once I didn't get to do a second in-person assessment, was that I was feeling more violent, angry, etc. and due to that I was feeling like an 'hazard' both to the people around me and myself. On top, I have been dealing with cervical nerves weakness for over an year and an half by now, exactly when I was awarded the LCWRA.

So yes, I don't think selling online contradicts the reasons why I got the award.

I need to go over all the technical terms like, revenue, income, etc. so I make sure what I'm doing when it comes to finances and HMRC because I don't like breaking laws and such.

Is there a way I can private message any of the forum members like you, or any members part of the scope team, with some private matters ?

Have a lovely weekend.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1028949#Comment_1028949

There is a private message system on here. You should see a small envelope icon in the top right corner between the notification bell and your profile picture if on a PC or laptop. (Could be slightly different on a phone or tablet).

You can message Community_Scope and that will get picked up by whoever is working at Scope at the time.

Generally we do prefer all benefits type questions to be asked on the public forum. That way you can get experiences from different members, and if any advice is inaccurate or outdated, that can be corrected quickly by another member seeing it.