Prospect of working very temporarily while on ESA

liam1196

Hello all,

I am currently living with my parents and receiving Employment & Support allowance due to some long term issues I've had with mental health. More recently I have met someone I am very fond of and has been the best thing that has happened to me in a very long while and because of this, despite still wrestling with low mood and anxiety, I am starting to feel like soon I may be able to go back to work.

Recently something has come up where I could perhaps stick my toe in and see how things go. It's an oppurtunity to appear as an extra in a programme and it will be for around 7 days.

The purpose of this post is really to ask if this will affect my benefits in the long run. I asked the agency "I am currently registered as unemployed, will this affect my status?" and the reply I got was "It's self employed. NI is deducted at source. I hope this helps."

I would like to try this but feel I'm not ready to take any major steps that would mean re-applying for ESA. Can anyone give me any advice?

Thanks