Mortgage Interest payments

hermum

Hi, I hope that someone can help with some advice, as I'm bashing my head against a wall trying to get answers from JC & the agency who are supposedly helping people back into work in my area.
I'm on IB & Is due to health issues & I think from what I can remember the DWP Dr signed me off until either later this year or next.
I need to work, as until I became ill a few years ago I had always worked, & am trying to find out whether I can get help.
I'm not good at going out & can't cope with people.
So I know that being employed would be difficult. I would like to be self-employed buying & selling on ebay, possiby my own website if I can do ok on ebay.
While I don't expect anyone to support me, I've never before been reliant on benefits, I am very concerned that I won't be able to earn enough to pay my mortgage.
I know that I can earn up to £93 a week if I work for less than 16 hours a week for up to a year in permitted work, but I can't get a definitive answer that selling on ebay would be classed as such.
If I can get an answer from JCP, does anyone know whether I can get any help with the mortgage interest payments for a few weeks, as you can rent?
It will probably take several weeks to be making anything much, by the time things sell & Paypal gets transferred to my bank.
Many thanks

richard9991

hermum wrote: »

Hi, I hope that someone can help with some advice, as I'm bashing my head against a wall trying to get answers from JC & the agency who are supposedly helping people back into work in my area.
I'm on IB & Is due to health issues & I think from what I can remember the DWP Dr signed me off until either later this year or next.
I need to work, as until I became ill a few years ago I had always worked, & am trying to find out whether I can get help.
I'm not good at going out & can't cope with people.
So I know that being employed would be difficult. I would like to be self-employed buying & selling on ebay, possiby my own website if I can do ok on ebay.
While I don't expect anyone to support me, I've never before been reliant on benefits, I am very concerned that I won't be able to earn enough to pay my mortgage.
I know that I can earn up to £93 a week if I work for less than 16 hours a week for up to a year in permitted work, but I can't get a definitive answer that selling on ebay would be classed as such.
If I can get an answer from JCP, does anyone know whether I can get any help with the mortgage interest payments for a few weeks, as you can rent?
It will probably take several weeks to be making anything much, by the time things sell & Paypal gets transferred to my bank.
Many thanks

what you describe is called permited work and as far as i know the work has to be theraputic and not in your usual occupation you can keep your incap but will lose any means tested benefits

hermum

Unfortunately nobody will tell me whether ebaying from home is permitted work or whether a 4 week grace period is granted on MIP so that my mortgage can be paid while I set up the business. I don't want to be on benefits but neither do I wish to get into arrears on my mortgage & find myself homeless.
Hopefully someone will know whether it is permitted work & the 4 weeks.

richard9991

What is Permitted Work?

Permitted Work is work that you are allowed to do whilst you are still treated as incapable of work ie those claiming Incapacity Benefit, Employment & Support Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance or Income Support paid because of an incapacity for work.

There are four types of Permitted Work for claimants of incapacity related benefits

I.Permitted Work Lower Limit:
You cannot earn more than £20 per week
There is no time limit to how long you can do Permitted Work Lower Limit

II.Supported Permitted Work
You cannot earn more than £93.00 (October 2009) per week net
The Permitted Work must be part of a treatment programme which must be done under medical supervision while you are in hospital or regularly attending hospital as an outpatient OR
The Permitted Work must be supervised by a person employed by a public or local authority or voluntary organisation that provides or arranges work opportunities for people with a disability

III.Permitted Work Higher Limit
You cannot earn more than £93.00 (October 2009)per week net
The period of Permitted Work cannot last for more than 52 weeks
After 52 weeks Permitted Work there must be a gap of at least 52 weeks before you can start another period of Permitted Work.

IV.Permitted Work Personal Capability Exempt
You cannot earn more than £93.00 (October 2009) per week net
You can continue to do Permitted Work for as long as you are exempt from the PCA

Before you start Permitted Work you are obliged to inform the DWP as it is considered a relevant change of circumstances. If necessary get their written agreement that the work will be treated as Permitted Work

It is important to note that if your net income goes above £93.00 in any week you will no longer be considered to be doing permitted work and you will lose your entitlement to incapacity related benefit.

Permitted Work and Employment and Support Allowance

As with Incapacity Benefit there are 4 types of Permitted Work:

I.Permitted Work Lower Limit:
You cannot earn more than £20 per week
There is no time limit to how long you can do Permitted Work Lower Limit

II.Supported Permitted Work
You cannot earn more than £93.00 (October 2009) per week net
The Permitted Work must be part of a treatment programme which must be done under medical supervision while you are in hospital or regularly attending hospital as an outpatient OR
The Permitted Work must be supervised by a person employed by a public or local authority or voluntary organisation that provides or arranges work opportunities for people with a disability

III.Permitted Work Higher Limit
You cannot earn more than £93.00 (October 2009) per week net
The period of Permitted Work cannot last for more than 52 weeks
After 52 weeks Permitted Work there must be a gap of at least 52 weeks before you can start another period of Permitted Work (unless since the beginning of the last period of specified work, you have ceased to be entitled to ESA for a continuous period exceeding 12 weeks)

IV.Permitted for those with “Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity” (namely those in the Support Group)
You cannot earn more than £93.00 (October 2009) per week net
You can continue to do Permitted Work for as long as you are in the Support Group

How will my benefits be affected?

Permitted work must be for a normal average of less than 16 hours per week and therefore treated as Part-Time Work (see page 14).

Help with Childcare

An important exception to the rules about Permitted Work and how it affects other benefits is:
In certain circumstances you may be allowed to disregard childcare costs of up to £60 per week when working out your pay for the purposes of Permitted Work. Get specialist advice if you think this may apply to you.
It is important to note that if you receive Income Support, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit you could receive reduced amounts or your benefit could stop altogether.

Income Support is reduced pound for pound after any disregards. Housing Benefit is reduced by 65% of any excess income after disregards and Council Tax Benefit reduced by 20%. Seek advice if you are not sure.

To encourage claimants to try Permitted Work those claiming ESA (both Contribution-Based and Income-Based) will have all of their income disregarded, this means that up to £93.00 will be ignored. Also claimants on Income-Based ESA are entitled to their maximum eligible Housing Benefit and full Council Tax Benefit (this creates an anomaly that those on Income-Based ESA may be financially better off than those on Contribution-Based ESA as those on Contribution-Based ESA will have any income subject to the tariff income rules outlined above.

From April 2010 the Government is proposing to introduce an earnings disregard of £93.00 per week in Housing and Council Tax Benefit for claimants of Incapacity Benefit, Contributory ESA and SDA.

tcr_3

Income Support pay the mortgage. They'll be interested in how many hours each week you'll be "employed" doing your ebay stuff, plus how much you're making by way of profit ... for that you'll have to submit your accounts. But the bottom line is if you're not making a profit right now, or in 4 weeks time, or 10 weeks ... there's no earnings for Income Support to take in account in your assessment so things might continue as they are.

You'll need to run your plans by the Incapacity Benefit office, as Richard says.

hermum

I've been trying for an answer from all depts for months & months, possibly now 18 months. I voluntarily went to the outside agency who helps people into work, as they are probably target driven I would have thought that they would have done all they could to find out the answers for me. My first appt was 8 December 09, 2nd in Feb, 3rd should have been March but I phoned to ask if he had the information he had promised he would get me & he was going to get back to me, I cancelled the appt & still haven't heard from him.
I've requested 3 meetings with the disability adviser at JC & they say it's good that I want to work, until I became ill I'd worked for well over 30 years, but don't give me any further information.
Each time I phone I expect them now to ask me to stop harrassing them. If I could I would just go all out & come off all benefits but I'm really scared about homelessness.
I worked in Local Government before I was ill & had 10 working days to follow up a query.