Am I allowed an Etsy shop while on ESA and PIP?

DoneAndBeyond
DoneAndBeyond Online Community Member Posts: 9 Listener
in Work
I'm on ESA and PIP for mental health reasons and am unemployed and doing no permitted work. I was wondering if it was allowed for me to have an Etsy shop selling crafts i've made? I'm just wondering what the line is between it being a business that I have to tell authorities about and it just being a fancier eBay? 

Comments

  • Ross_Alumni
    Ross_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,611 Championing
    Hello there @DoneAndBeyond

    Thanks for making this post, the Etsy shop sounds exciting, making and selling your own crafts is a prospect that I imagine you are looking forward to.

    It wouldn't impact your PIP as it isn't means tested, meaning that your earnings aren't taken into account when receiving PIP. It would only potentially cause an issue if seeling the crafts online contradicts any of the reasons for which you are claiming PIP. 

    I believe this would fall under permitted work, which is an agreement between you and the DWP and I think that you would have to inform them about your online shop if you intend to make money from it. This page on the EntitledTo website provides further detail about what you can and can't do under permitted work, but here is a  snippet that may be of relevance to you:

    "The idea of permitted work is that it allows you to test your own capacity for doing some work and perhaps gain new skills. To help make this possible earnings under permitted work are ignored in the benefit calculation, up to a limit of £143 a week (April 2021)."

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