Universal credit self employed unable to work due to illness

Rangytangy

My partner and I are both self employed and have been claiming universal credit since COVID ,due to illness I am unable to work at present and have submitted a sick note to universal credit and informed them that I am sick ,will I be paid any sickness benefit from universal credit or do I need to apply esa it all seems a bit unclear when I try to look it up on the Net ,any help would be grateful.

calcotti

Rangytangy said:

My partner and I are both self employed and have been claiming universal credit since COVID ,due to illness I am unable to work at present and have submitted a sick note to universal credit and informed them that I am sick ,will I be paid any sickness benefit from universal credit or do I need to apply esa it all seems a bit unclear when I try to look it up on the Net ,any help would be grateful.

You will be referred for a Work Capability Assessment. If you are found to have Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity your UC will increase from the fourth full month after you reported the health condition.

You can claim ESA if you wish but any ESA will be deducted from the UC so does not increase your overall income.

huckster

Suggest a Job Centre appointment is booked to review the self-employment on the claim.  If you have had a minimum income floor (MIF) applied to your claim, if  you are not able to work for a period, they can remove the MIF. 

tifo

You'll be referred for a work capability assessment (WCA) after you submit the first fit note. The appointment can take several months though mine took 2.5 years but there was covid in between. Until then as long as you give fit notes you won't really need to work search. You'll both have to come to universal credit (UC) as a joint claim and your partner, if not ill, will be expected to work search or be in work. If they're self employed then I believe the minimum income floor (MIF) does not apply in the first year, though it did when I came to UC in 2019. At that time I was told the MIF is only for a new self employed business.

calcotti

tifo said:

..as long as you give fit notes you won't really need to work search. 

OP is self employed so is not required to work search anyway.

tifo said:

You'll both have to come to universal credit (UC) as a joint claim and your partner, if not ill, will be expected to work search or be in work. 

They are already claiming UC. Partner is also self employed and therefore not required to work search.

tifo

calcotti said:

tifo said:

..as long as you give fit notes you won't really need to work search. 

OP is self employed so is not required to work search anyway.

tifo said:

You'll both have to come to universal credit (UC) as a joint claim and your partner, if not ill, will be expected to work search or be in work. 

They are already claiming UC. Partner is also self employed and therefore not required to work search.

Sorry, missed the part about being on UC.

"OP is self employed so is not required to work search anyway". OP says "due to illness I am unable to work at present and have submitted a sick note" so they'll be in kind of a LCW requirements as long as they give fit notes, until the WCA, as they're no longer gainfully self employed.

This was my exact position when I became ill and that's what happened to me until the WCA. I had to either work search (too ill anyway) or give continuous fit notes, which I did.

The OP may not need to work search because partner is working but then the work allowance and AET will be for their personal circumstances.

calcotti

tifo said:

"OP is self employed so is not required to work search anyway". OP says "due to illness I am unable to work at present and have submitted a sick note" so they'll be in kind of a LCW requirements as long as they give fit notes, until the WCA, as they're no longer gainfully self employed.

Periods of sickness are a feature of self employment. Being sick doesn’t automatically mean they are no longer gainfully self employed but I can see that it might be the case, Depending on the nature and expected duration of the sickness.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1079323/admh4.pdf

H4057 A S/E claimant will experience occasional minor illnesses like anyone else. The DM should regard periods of minor illness as part of the normal pattern of self employment.

poppy12345

tifo said:

Until then as long as you give fit notes you won't really need to work search.

Even if a claimant isn't working a fit note doesn't exclude anyone from work commiments. It's a work coaches discretion whether they turn off or reduce work commiments. Some reduce them, some turn them off, others won't.

tifo

poppy12345 said:

Even if a claimant isn't working a fit note doesn't exclude anyone from work commiments. It's a work coaches discretion whether they turn off or reduce work commiments. Some reduce them, some turn them off, others won't.

Ah ok. From my personal experience, it was like LCW for me with fit notes, where I had to 'prepare' for work but not look for it. Though I wasn't capable of the preparation but they didn't ask much. I still had to have very regular appointments. That's a different story anyway.

When my fit note was nearing it's end date, they'd journal message me saying to supply another one or else ....