ESA Support Group, Work & questions.

Spoonie_Turtle

If OP were genuinely needing to know, they could search for the permitted work form. On there, they would find that the claimant has to tell DWP their job title and the sorts of things they'll be doing in the job.

ESA won't just be stopped because of doing work within the PW rules, nobody has even suggested that. What was said it's that it may trigger a reassessment, and if you claim to be unable to do things that you're actually doing in your job, that will go against you. If you have reasonable adjustments and/or aids at work, the reassessment process gives you opportunity to tell them this on the form they send. Which, if OP already claimed ESA and had thought this through, they would already have realised.

poppy12345

Spoonie_Turtle said:

If OP were genuinely needing to know, they could search for the permitted work form. On there, they would find that the claimant has to tell DWP their job title and the sorts of things they'll be doing in the job.

Links for permitted work were also posted in posts 2 and 3, which i'm assuming the OP didn't bother reading...

Alice_Holt

bery_451 said:

poppy12345 said:

bery_451 said:

poppy12345 said:

bery_451 said:

Can the claimant work anywhere that is legal that is being paid the minimum wage but got to be max16 hours or less a week?
When applying for a part-time position at a company or going through the recruitment process is there any declarations the claimant must fill out or the employer must do so ESA doesn't get affected? The claimant has to declare ESA health conditions on the job application form right otherwise how does it work? Can a employer refuse you a job for having medical conditions.
What's the max savings a single claimant can have and when the wages help towards savings and take it over the savings allowance then what will happen? Does the claimant has to spend savings to keep it under allowance? When they say savings do they mean money in a savings account paying interest or normal current account? 
For example can the claimant work part time at McDonalds or Amazon? These 2 companies will never go bankrupt from the looks of it that equals good job security but shtty pay.

There's a lot of questions in there and i'll do my best to answer them.

When claiming ESA you can do permitted work, you must work less than 16 hours per week and not earn anymore than £140 per week after deductions. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-and-support-allowance-permitted-work-form/permitted-work-factsheet

You need to fill out a PW1 form for this and return it to DWP. Yes, you can work where ever you want. Although if the work you do contradicts the reasons why you're claiming ESA then you could be reassessed early and it could go against you when the decision is made.

There's no declaration to make when applying for jobs or when accepting a job.

Yes, you can declare your health condition but there's no law for this, you don't have to do this but it maybe in your best interests to do so.

When claiming means tested benefits the maximum savings you have is £16,000, this includes ALL of your savings, whether it's in a bank account, savings accounts, or at home.

Okay you saying theres a high probable risk of the claimant being reassessed early if the claimant undertakes a part-time job? If DWP believes it is contradictory then why do they allow ESA claimants to work part time then and instead ban work? Its confusing.

Isn't £16k capital savings for couples or single claimant? Is the law changing this threshold soon?

No, that's not what i said. I said IF the work you do conrtradicts the reasons why you're claiming.

The savings/capital rules are for single people or couples. Doesn't matter what you are the rules are the same, for working age people.

I'm confused because I thought any work is allowed for the claimant as long its 15hrs max a week according to this thread but now you saying not any work, only work that doesn't contradict your health condition like that postman example you given.

I gave example of 2 companies Mcdonalds or Amazon and within both of these companies there's dozens different type of job roles each ranging from minimum wage physical work to higher pay less physical like managerial office work.
The question is how does the DWP know what role you doing in a company before passing their judgement to the claimant? What if a company that adopts a disability equal opportunity policy where theres is no discrimination against disabled/health related employees where they have rights to disability aids and tools in the workplace or these employees are entitled to more short-term breaks during a shift. Does the DWP know all this and take this into consideration before passing judgement onto the claimant?

ESA stands for Employment & Support Allowance so fundamentally its a employment benefit like JSA and hence there shouldn't be any barriers for a claimant going into employment as long its 15hrs a week max. ESA benefit is not enough nowadays and is always behind inflation.

Lockdowns causes severe mental health issues for employees who are forced to work from home because not going out, having no outside home work routine and being in self isolation is mentally damaging. Hence I hear some ESA claimants like to work part-time to avoid mental health problems or reduce further damage of mental health.

We all know the older we get the less physically fitter we get so why DWP carry reassessments as it doesn't make sense as there's no cures for the most common disability/health conditions in the UK and over time makes it worse not better. There's no magic super pill that makes you younger or cures all health problems or expensive surgeries to fix joints/limbs not available on the NHS. Maybe for the rich but then again the rich don't claim benefits.

Okay your conclusion is the claimant is at risk losing the benefit even though its 15hrs max a week part-time work because DWP sees work as 'physical' and instead the claimant should be like a mummy covered in bandages stuck in bed 247. 

What if the claimant works part-time max 15hrs a week and the DWP commits negligence by stopping the benefit because they couldn't be bothered to check the job role and the equal disability policies at the workplace? Does this mean endless appeals and cases the claimant has to go through?

       You may be best asking this of your MP (since your questions seem to relate the fairness of legislative issues and DWP process),  rather than in a forum designed to help forumites access relevant benefits.  

Spoonie_Turtle

poppy12345 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

If OP were genuinely needing to know, they could search for the permitted work form. On there, they would find that the claimant has to tell DWP their job title and the sorts of things they'll be doing in the job.

Links for permitted work were also posted in posts 2 and 3, which i'm assuming the OP didn't bother reading...

Good point, I hadn't read the links myself. Clearly they hadn't either as even a quick skim shows the PW1 linked to!

elsien

If you are on ESA for a bad back and got a job as a labourer carting heavy loads around all day, clearly this is contradictory and would lead to your ESA being reassessed. That's not rocket science, is it? 

He

elsien said:

If you are on ESA for a bad back and got a job as a labourer carting heavy loads around all day, clearly this is contradictory and would lead to your ESA being reassessed. That's not rocket science, is it? 

Well to somebody an inch short of a foot of whom there seem plenty in my locale .....

bery_451

poppy12345 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

If OP were genuinely needing to know, they could search for the permitted work form. On there, they would find that the claimant has to tell DWP their job title and the sorts of things they'll be doing in the job.

Links for permitted work were also posted in posts 2 and 3, which i'm assuming the OP didn't bother reading...

I have read form PW1.
Makes it more confusing. So theres 2 types of permitted work?:
- Normal permitted work.
- Supported permitted work (supervised & supported by your own independent professional support worker to help with the claimant disability issues during a work shift). Who pays for this support worker or is it a volunteer from charity? Shall I assume this support worker will be with the claimant during the shift supporting the claimant? Also for example what if Mcdonalds or Amazon disapprove this independent support worker on their premises & what if these companies provide their own professional support worker?
Okay so normal permitted work will definitely trigger a reassessment because DWP sees this as normal work by normal people however support permitted work is the only way to avoid a stupid reassessment being triggered where a claimant must get a support worker for this?

Every job is physical, even a lazy boring office job involves physical like getting out the house, get in car or transport, opening door to get in office lot and so on. So can anyone give me job titles that are ESA approved to prevent those silly reassessments as I here complaints online, these DWP reassessments are a joke and are not worth anybody's time as they will find any excuse to fail you like something stupid like getting to the DWP assessment building means a fail because your physically able to do it.

elsien

I shouldn’t worry, Maccy D aren’t going to be providing anyone with a support worker any time soon.

KatrinaWaves

Are you actually claiming ESA or not? There is no ‘list of job titles’ the DWP will look at and go ‘ah yes that is on our special list of approved jobs we won’t reassess’ as that is not how it works. 

If you are claiming ESA then you know your limitations. You know what work you think you can and cannot do. It is not our place to tell you.  Some people cannot work at all, and some people can. It’s extremely simple.  You are either struggling a lot with the links and the advice given, or you are deliberately misreading what people say as you have been told multiple times that ‘normal’ permitted work may not trigger a reassessment, yet you are here harping in about how it definitely will. 

poppy12345

Just to remind you again. This forum is for helping people with benefit claims, it's not a discussion forum. All you're doing is twisting everything people have already told you.