mystery shopping\testing websites effect benefits

Giraffe76

hi all,


Not sure if this post is in the correct place


My wife and i have heard about doing mystery shopping and\or getting paid to test websites but i was wondering if it would effect any of the benefits that we claim or whether they pay us in some other way eg amazon vouchers etc


Kind regards Mark

pmlindyloo

Giraffe76 wrote: »

hi all,


Not sure if this post is in the correct place


My wife and i have heard about doing mystery shopping and\or getting paid to test websites but i was wondering if it would effect any of the benefits that we claim or whether they pay us in some other way eg amazon vouchers etc


Kind regards Mark

What benefits are you claiming?

Giraffe76

I claim carers allowance and my wife claims esa and pip

[Deleted User]

You can currently earn upto £116 a week and claim carers allowance, PIP has no earnings limits, but ESA will have.
But TBH these websites rarely earn most people anything.

pmlindyloo

Your wife could do Permitted work (less than 16 hrs a week and earning less than £120)) as she is the main claimant for ESA (there is no permitted work for partners). She could do this with no effect to your other benefits.
She would need to speak to the DWP about this.

She would also have to register as self employed.

If you also did mystery shopping etc then any earnings you made would be deducted from your ESA with a small disregard. You would lose your CA if you did earn more than £116 per week.

Do be honest, if you want to go down this route then it should be your wife that does it as that would not affect your benefits.

I do agree that people rarely make very much money doing this.

If you are not too concerned about the money aspect but want something to do then why not volunteer - can be very rewarding.

Giraffe76

Thank you very much for everyone's replies and i will carefully consider what,if anything to do next

teddysmum

Mystery shopping ended up as a waste of time for me as all that came up were betting shops, pubs and a rare food take away and testing child play areas at pubs where only one child was paid for.


The play area and betting shop ones weren't popular as they sent personal messages to try to cover these, but takeaway offers were snatched as soon as published.


I have been a member of two test sites, one of which has closed and didn't get many things to try .Their products seemed to cover mainly young families, possibly with children. There was no payment; just a free product or sample and sometimes money off vouchers for that product.