Universal Credit Back To Work

weedave111

Hi, thanks again for your advice. I've been doing a lot of reading and it seems to be very complicated. If I start self employment part time they won't see this as gainfully self employed and I'll have to prove I'm looking for a full time job. The whole idea is for me to see if I can work with my arthritis and mental health. My mental health seems to fluctuate and I'm still on a high dose of medication for it. I'm trying to get back to normal by working but it's putting me off with all this UC do's and dont's. It's very complicated and I can't get my head around it all 🥵🥵

calcotti

While you are treated as LCW or LCWRa you will not be expected to look for work.

poppy12345

weedave111 said:

Hi, thanks again for your advice. I've been doing a lot of reading and it seems to be very complicated. If I start self employment part time they won't see this as gainfully self employed and I'll have to prove I'm looking for a full time job.

As you're in the LCWRA group then when the minimum income floor returns this wouldn't apply to you. Although you do have to be careful that the work you do doesn't contradict the reasons why you're in that group.

Spoonie_Turtle

calcotti said:

While you are treated as LCW or LCWRa you will not be expected to look for work.

Exactly.  LCW/RA is somewhat of a safety net - you can give part-time employment/self-employment a go and if it doesn't work or it makes you more ill, you can just stop without causing any problems with UC, or with ESA if you've stayed within the permitted work limits (<16hrs / £143 per week).

weedave111

There is a chance I can lose that LCWRA though if they say my work contradicts it. So when I become self employed I will lose a lot of UC and I'll be much worse off. I can't understand all this. Doing my head in. Bad idea going self employed. 

calcotti

weedave111 said:

There is a chance I can lose that LCWRA though if they say my work contradicts it. 

Does it contradict?

weedave111

calcotti said:

weedave111 said:

There is a chance I can lose that LCWRA though if they say my work contradicts it. 

Does it contradict?

That's the thing I don't know if it will but I'm wanting to do it because I want to get back to normal and I was hoping that doing a couple of days maybe to keep me occupied and get me out of the house it will help me get back full time. Does that make sense? I've been really low in the past where I have tried to take my own life but I've not been like that for a while but I can't deal with stress and I just snap at times. I was taking pain killers for about 15 years from the Doctor and ended up being badly addicted to them and I'm now on medication to stop me from taking painkillers. Who the hell thought up this UC. It's so complicated. Well for me anyway. Sorry for the rant. Thanks for the replies.

poppy12345

One other thing to think about. You mention you have arthritis, would you be able to be a painter and decorator? Climbing up and down ladders, using paint brushes and rollers?

calcotti

weedave111 said: Who the hell thought up this UC. It's so complicated. 

The benefits system has always been complicated. The issues you are raising apply equally to ESA and ESA has a cliff edge where you lose all your benefit if you go over the permitted work limit whereas UC continues to provide support until such time as your entitlement is completely eroded by your earnings.

Spoonie_Turtle

weedave111 said:

calcotti said:

weedave111 said:

There is a chance I can lose that LCWRA though if they say my work contradicts it. 

Does it contradict?

That's the thing I don't know if it will 

Only you know how your mental illness affects you.  What you put on your form, what they decided from the assessment, compare that with the work you are wanting to do.  Does it contradict?  Are the issues still there but irrelevant to this particular work, or are there things you are planning to do to mitigate the issues?  These are things for you to think about.

Also poppy makes a good point.  As you are planning to try self-employment though you certainly have the option of building up slowly to see how it goes.