Income support and helping a friend - work??

jenhug

Hi.

Currently in receipt of income support, and I know I have to declare if I do any work, paid or unpaid.

My friend is starting a small business and will be selling her wares via a facebook page.

It is entirely her business, I have no part of it except I said I would help her out by uploading the photos of the items she will be selling.

I will not be paid, and don't consider it to be work, just helping a non tech savvy friend out.

Would this be classed as work under the income support rules? It will only take me 5 minutes maybe once a month.

Thanks for reading.

rogerblack

Yes, it may be work.
Work in the course of a business, even if not paid may be treated as if it was paid.
(Deprivation of income)
However, if it's truly as minimal as you suggest, and is of no special skill, 5 min *nmw may be reasonable, or 50p.
This is well below the limit at which it's ignored.
If you are paid at all, or if you begin to do significant work - more than a few minutes a week - then you may want to come back and think about this again.

FBaby

Can't you teach her how to do it instead?

jenhug

i have been trying to teach her ebay for months. Its not going well.

Thanks, I shall let them know.

techspec

If you think you need to declare 5 mins a month helping a friend over a coffee - then go for it.

Cos if thats the case - most people have 10 jobs.

HappyMJ

5 minutes...forget about it. what's that at minimum wage 52p..It's not enough to worry about.

recoverydust

What if you bake a cake for a neighbours childs birthday? Is that working too?

HappyMJ

recoverydust wrote: »

What if you bake a cake for a neighbours childs birthday? Is that working too?

it's more of a hobby...in my opinion...unless you are trained in cake baking and have previously sold cake for profit.

it's a hard one really...what if i give a lift to a mate in return for a bit of petrol money? what if i help a friend with a bit of housework in return for dinner?

recoverydust

What if you while away the wee hours giving advice online? Is that work?

rogerblack

recoverydust wrote: »

What if you while away the wee hours giving advice online? Is that work?

Arguing what the rules 'should' be is generally not very helpful.

In some cases, work done for no money may count, as outlined above.

Fortunately, the rules do explicitly neglect trivial amounts of work.

Is this likely to be an issue for a few minutes of work - not in most cases, unless your hourly rate for the work is high, and there is a ready market for it.

But it is something to be aware of, as it can in some circumstances lead to you being found to be not entitled to benefit, if it is later determined that the work you were doing was _not_ exempt.
This can lead to large overpayments, and in principle prosecution.

MissMoneypenny

jenhug wrote: »

i have been trying to teach her ebay for months. Its not going well.

Write down what to do, in easy steps. Once she has follwed those instructions a few times, she will get the hang of it.