Trying to work for myself on new style esa & fear of triggering a

sarah26
sarah26 Community Member Posts: 4 Listener
in Employment & Support Allowance (ESA)

Hi everyone

Picking up on the discussion that began in April 23, I am in a sort of similar position to the below. I did post a longer message yesterday & have subsequently found this chat which has helpfully articulated what I wanted ask.

I am in the support group & feeling like I would like to do & could manage a few hours of permitted work for myself providing therapeutic support. I have been on an ME / chronic fatigue recovery journey. I have been in this group since 2020.

I am also keen to understand three years from this discussion below and from others experience if starting this could trigger reassessment? I would be working only 4 hours a week to take me up to the threshold of £203.

In the reply to this post, someone said it would only be reviewed if the work contradicted your claim” please can someone enlighten me as to what type of work could contradict a claim?

I would be providing a therapeutic offering using tools that have been helping me and working 121 largely from home & online and this could also include running a workshop for a small group in person / online.

Looking forward to your thoughts

And thank you.



April 23

Hi all, last year I was placed in the ESA support group (first time, so I’m new to all this).
  
I’ve now got the opportunity to do some self-employed work (low-key, from home, flexible) for a day a week, for a small local company.

I’ve read the official ‘permitted working / less than 16 hours / less than £152 a week’ permitted work - which it would be under this.  

But I wanted to get a sense of how this worked in reality.  Is it worth the risk?  Will it trigger a reassessment or cause future problems with staying on this benefit?  
In reality, I might not manage working for too long, or it might not pan out, but I’d like to try - but only if it doesn’t risk anything with the ESA Support Group benefit.

I’d appreciate any thoughts from your experience.  Thank you

Answers

  • Anhedonia2
    Anhedonia2 Community Member Posts: 369 Empowering

    I've not been in this position but I would think 'contradicting' would mean for example you claim says that you are unable to leave the house but your work means travelling 5 days a week to new places, alone.

    Or that you can't handle social interactions but your work is talking to new people all day long. Or that you have no awareness of hazards but your work is as a risk assessor. Or you can't pick up and move things but you work as a shelf stocker, etc

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Community Member Posts: 6,451 Championing

    Hi,

    It depends entirely on the reason that you, specifically, were awarded Support Group. None of us can say what would contradict your claim without seeing where the points were scored.

    If you said you're housebound, and then start doing a job that requires travelling regularly, that would be contradictory.

    If you said you can't stand for long, and then got a job hoovering and mopping floors, that would be contradictory.

    If you said you can't cope in social situations, and then start working with large groups, that would be contradictory.

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