esa support group and self employment

brendajoy

Hello, i am my sons carer and appointee.My son is in the support group, mental health issues.
We are isolated due to his issues so i have started selling online and my son is growing in experience and enjoying the process.
He has skills we never knew and is learning more and more ,its doing him good and me too see a improvement in him
We are now selling a few items and i can see a future ,but what is the best way forward as i dont wish to lose his ESA should he relapse .
Self employed or permitted work?
I am afraid to fill in a permitted work form incase its sparks more questions and he gets refused .
Any advise is most welcome.

poppy123456

Permitted work is possible when claiming ESA providing he doesn't earn more than £143 per week. There shouldn't be a problem providing the work he does doesn't contradict the reasons why he was placed into the Support Group.

The question here is who's self employed, is it you or your son? You mention "i've started selling" which to me means yourself. If it's your son then he needs to report this to DWP and fill out a PW1 form.

brendajoy

poppy ,
Thank you so much for your reply .
My son suffers with social and health anxiety ,so doesn't leave the house ,so we are isolated .
I started to encourage him to find a interest and he does amazing metal work now which i post and sell for him and this as urged to carry on he thrives on the feed back, and is learning more skills ,and as a online social life , if that makes sense , its safe for him !
 I don't know which way is the best ,me being the self employed ,as i am his carer or just ask for my son to be allowed allowed permitted work ?

poppy123456

Do you claim any benefits yourself? If you do then working could affect those so you need to think of that too.

brendajoy

Poppy ,I claim carers allowance ,and have severe disability premium .also i have standard care Pip.

poppy123456

Carers allowance has an earnings limit of £128 per week (after deductions) The Severe disability premium is a benefit paid on top of certain benefits, it's not paid on it own, are you claiming ESA or Income Support yourself? If it's Income Support then there's a £20 per week earnings disregard and anything more than this will reduce your IS £1 for £1.

brendajoy

Poppy , Yes , income support is paid , i believe because i don't have a carer i have the extra help to pay someone to help  me with chores etc .
I am not claiming ESA  myself ,i find the whole area a mine field and get so stressed , hence i wish to do the right thing to allow my son to thrive .
Poppy , may i say thankyou for engaging with me , you are giving me a insight into facts i wasn't aware off,and i do appreciate you giving me your time .

poppy123456

No worries. As you're claiming Income Support then it would be better if your son does permitted work but of course only you and him can decide that. I think it's really good that you've encouraged your son to do this and i hope he continues to do well.

If he does decide to do permitted work you must make sure you tell DWP and fill out that form.

brendajoy

Poppy ,thank you for you help .I will have a think now and decide ,do i say he is self employed or if its just a profitable hobby to help him adjust and become more confident in his tasks .
sincere thanks 
brenda 

poppy123456

Whether it's a hobby or self employed will really depend on how much he sells. If he is self employed you need to tell them this and you will need to report earnings and expenses but i have no idea exactly how that works and how often you will be expected to report those.

calcotti

brendajoy said:

Self employed or permitted work?

To be clear, it isn't a matter of 'or', if he is self employed it needs to reported under Permitted Work rules.

brendajoy

Poppy ,Thank you so much ,you have clarified a lot for me .
Thankyou 

poppy123456

If his annual gross income is more than £1,000 then he needs to register as self employed with HMRC.

brendajoy

Hello,
Thank you for your advice ,at the moment i have not allowed him to sell much ,just a few here and there ,maybe no more than £30 .00 a week , but he as had a lot interest and i would like him to be able to do this without me worrying we are doing something wrong,so i was told about permitted work but was not knowledgeable about it .
Thank you