ESA and Working - Advice please

venomx

I'm on income related ESA and considering a 16 hour per week job, not sure on the pay but it would be up to £160 per week.

Will I be worse off financially by working 16 hours ? I currently do 12 hours but the job doesn't suit me and looking to change

thanks

calcotti

To retain your ESA you must work for less than 16 hours and earn not more than £152/week.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-and-support-allowance-permitted-work-form/permitted-work-factsheet

if you do this you will retain your ESA and receive your earnings too.

Spoonie_Turtle

calcotti said:

if you do this you will retain your ESA and receive your earnings too.

This might be a silly question but do they deduct money from income-based ESA for earnings?

(I see OP already works but I still can't infer the answer.)

poppy12345

Spoonie_Turtle said:

calcotti said:

if you do this you will retain your ESA and receive your earnings too.

This might be a silly question but do they deduct money from income-based ESA for earnings?

No, under 16 hours is permitted work so you keep all your ESA. 

Spoonie_Turtle

poppy12345 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

calcotti said:

if you do this you will retain your ESA and receive your earnings too.

This might be a silly question but do they deduct money from income-based ESA for earnings?

No, under 16 hours is permitted work so you keep all your ESA. 

Thank you.

calcotti

Spoonie_Turtle said:

poppy12345 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

calcotti said:

if you do this you will retain your ESA and receive your earnings too.

This might be a silly question but do they deduct money from income-based ESA for earnings?

No, under 16 hours is permitted work so you keep all your ESA. 

Thank you.

Which is why doing 16 hours is a very expensive thing to do. On the one hand you get ESA plus earnings (and all associated passports benefits), on the other hand if you go over 16 hours you have only the earnings so you need to earn about 30 hours to get back to the same level of income.

venomx

calcotti said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

poppy12345 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

calcotti said:

if you do this you will retain your ESA and receive your earnings too.

This might be a silly question but do they deduct money from income-based ESA for earnings?

No, under 16 hours is permitted work so you keep all your ESA. 

Thank you.

Which is why doing 16 hours is a very expensive thing to do. On the one hand you get ESA plus earnings (and all associated passports benefits), on the other hand if you go over 16 hours you have only the earnings so you need to earn about 30 hours to get back to the same level of income.

Why is there hardly any information about how 16+ hours affects benefits on the DWP website ? Surely their should be an incentive to get back into work.

I thought that for every X amount you go over the £152 per week limit, they deduct a slight amount from the ESA ? Or is that Universal Credit ?

Rather than work I'll most likely be doing a college course as I think it would suit me better in the short and long term.

calcotti

venomx said: Why is there hardly any information about how 16+ hours affects benefits on the DWP website ? Surely their should be an incentive to get back into work.

I thought that for every X amount you go over the £152 per week limit, they deduct a slight amount from the ESA ? Or is that Universal Credit ?

Rather than work I'll most likely be doing a college course as I think it would suit me better in the short and long term.

ESA and UC work differently.

For ESA anything that falls within Permitted Work is ignored. As soon a you trip over the cliff edge you lose the ESA completely.

UC gets rid of the cliff edge but there is no Permitted Work identified in the same way. Instead you get a Work Allowance if you have LCW or LCWRA which means that some of the earnings are ignored. Above that there is a 55% deduction of the earnings over the Work Allowance.
A claimant will already have the WA if they have children on the claim.

For UC this means there is no cap on the hours worked, just gradual reduction of the UC to reflect earnings over the WA. This avoids the disincentive to increase hours which the Permitted works in ESA did do - effectively requiring someone to go from just under 16 hours to something closer to full time just to stand still.

venomx

calcotti said:

venomx said: Why is there hardly any information about how 16+ hours affects benefits on the DWP website ? Surely their should be an incentive to get back into work.

I thought that for every X amount you go over the £152 per week limit, they deduct a slight amount from the ESA ? Or is that Universal Credit ?

Rather than work I'll most likely be doing a college course as I think it would suit me better in the short and long term.

ESA and UC work differently.

For ESA anything that falls within Permitted Work is ignored. As soon a you trip over the cliff edge you lose the ESA completely.

UC gets rid of the cliff edge but there is no Permitted Work identified in the same way. Instead you get a Work Allowance if you have LCW or LCWRA which means that some of the earnings are ignored. Above that there is a 55% deduction of the earnings over the Work Allowance.
A claimant will already have the WA if they have children on the claim.

For UC this means there is no cap on the hours worked, just gradual reduction of the UC to reflect earnings over the WA. This avoids the disincentive to increase hours which the Permitted works in ESA did do - effectively requiring someone to go from just under 16 hours to something closer to full time just to stand still.

Thanks for the information. So in theory I'd have to go full time to earn the same as I currently receive on ESA ?

So basically if I was to work 16 hours which is a (while off yet), I'd be worse off ? Would I be entitled to income support or anything similar as I have bills to pay ?

Will I be moved over to UC at any point ?

Also just to clarify as there are lots of 16 hour jobs out there, is the limit 15 hours, and then anything 16 hours and over then calls off the benefits ? On the DWP website it says " You must work less than 16 hours per week " 

Spoonie_Turtle

venomx said:

calcotti said:

venomx said: Why is there hardly any information about how 16+ hours affects benefits on the DWP website ? Surely their should be an incentive to get back into work.

I thought that for every X amount you go over the £152 per week limit, they deduct a slight amount from the ESA ? Or is that Universal Credit ?

Rather than work I'll most likely be doing a college course as I think it would suit me better in the short and long term.

ESA and UC work differently.

For ESA anything that falls within Permitted Work is ignored. As soon a you trip over the cliff edge you lose the ESA completely.

UC gets rid of the cliff edge but there is no Permitted Work identified in the same way. Instead you get a Work Allowance if you have LCW or LCWRA which means that some of the earnings are ignored. Above that there is a 55% deduction of the earnings over the Work Allowance.
A claimant will already have the WA if they have children on the claim.

For UC this means there is no cap on the hours worked, just gradual reduction of the UC to reflect earnings over the WA. This avoids the disincentive to increase hours which the Permitted works in ESA did do - effectively requiring someone to go from just under 16 hours to something closer to full time just to stand still.

Thanks for the information. So in theory I'd have to go full time to earn the same as I currently receive on ESA ?

So basically if I was to work 16 hours which is a (while off yet), I'd be worse off ? Would I be entitled to income support or anything similar as I have bills to pay ?

Will I be moved over to UC at any point ?

Also just to clarify as there are lots of 16 hour jobs out there, is the limit 15 hours, and then anything 16 hours and over then calls off the benefits ? On the DWP website it says " You must work less than 16 hours per week " 

UC has replaced Income Support so it's UC you'd have to claim.

I'm not sure if people claiming ESA are being migrated to UC at all just yet or if that was just for people on Tax Credits.  Either way you have to actually open a UC claim yourself, as far as I understand, it doesn't switch from one benefit to another.

If you decided to go for the job, you would be best to apply for UC before you start, while your ESA claim is open so they transfer your Support Group status across.  This would give you the LCWRA element and the work allowance from the start.

The limit is 'up to' 16hrs, so technically 15hrs 59 mins (though in reality, jobs tend to go in increments of half an hour, or you might get 15hrs 45mins if it's 5hrs15 x 3 days).

calcotti

Spoonie_Turtle said:

I'm not sure if people claiming ESA are being migrated to UC at all just yet or if that was just for people on Tax Credits.  

Managed migration is under way in Medway, Bolton, Truro and Falmouth.

When people are migrated they are invited to claim UC. If they fail to do so within the prescribed period their old benefits will still stop and they will be without benefits.

IF it goes according to plan everybody will have switched to UC by the end of 2024.

Spoonie_Turtle said:

If you decided to go for the job, you would be best to apply for UC before you start, while your ESA claim is open so they transfer your Support Group status across.  This would give you the LCWRA element and the work allowance from the start.

That is excellent advice which I had forgotten to suggest. Unless getting an SDP in the ESA likely to be better off on UC anyway.

venomx said:

Also just to clarify as there are lots of 16 hour jobs out there, is the limit 15 hours, and then anything 16 hours and over then calls off the benefits ? On the DWP website it says " You must work less than 16 hours per week " 

Means exactly what it says.