Making a claim for new style ESA - average hours worked

Ceeem

I have been both employed (my own company) and self-employed for years but within the last year I became unable to work, not completely but at least the kind of work I used to do (I was still doing some limited admin work until recently but the company is now completely unable to trade, for reasons other than my limited capacity to work).
I am hoping to build a new self-employed business but this could take a while before I can make any significant income from it. I still receive some WTC, and can't move on to UC. I have been applying for jobs for the past couple of months with no luck so far, but was recently made aware I may be eligible for new style ESA.

I should have enough NI contributions to claim contributions-based ESA, I have no idea whether I would pass the work capability assessment but receiving ESA payments for at least 13 weeks until then would definitely help (and, from what I gather, I wouldn't lose my WTC as a result - unlike claiming JSA?).

The main questions I have are regarding the number of hours of work that is allowed whilst I claim.

- self-employment: am I right in thinking there is no limit on the number of hours spent on self-employment, so long as the earnings do not go over the weekly maximum earnings (which would be unlikely at this stage anyway)?

- employment: are the 16 hours and maximum weekly income strictly by the week or (as I've seen in some places), an average, and if the latter, how would the average be calculated? the reason I'm asking that is, the only possible job I've heard back from has a lot of unknowns, I was told over a month ago that I was selected, but the onboarding process is taking a long time, and they still can't tell me when training is even likely to start, probably not for another month at least, and even then I won't be offered a contract, it is only zero-hours, but at the same time, they also wanted me to confirm I was available to work for at least 25 hours a week, so it could be that there will be weeks without work, or with little work, and they don't have an obligation to give me anything, but on the weeks where there is a lot of work they will expect me to do at least 25; so what I'm wondering is, what would happen in regards to ESA if for instance I happened to be without shifts for say 3 weeks in a row, and then worked 25 hours per week the following 5 weeks? if calculated over the course of those 8 weeks the average would still be under 16 hours per week, but I don't know if that's how it works with ESA?

poppy12345

Permitted work while claiming ESA is less than 16 hours/week and earning no more than £152/week. For any weeks you earn more than this amount you won't be entitled to ESA. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-and-support-allowance-permitted-work-form/permitted-work-factsheet

Ceeem

poppy12345 said:

Permitted work while claiming ESA is less than 16 hours/week and earning no more than £152/week. For any weeks you earn more than this amount you won't be entitled to ESA. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-and-support-allowance-permitted-work-form/permitted-work-factsheet

So what does "not entitled" mean? does it just mean there wouldn't be a payment for that particular week and things would resume if the hours went down again, or does it mean the claim would end as soon as you reach or go above 16 hours, in which case it'd be better to not work at all if you're gonna be expected to work over 16 hours *some* weeks but have no security over future hours?

calcotti

Ceeem said:

poppy12345 said:

Permitted work while claiming ESA is less than 16 hours/week and earning no more than £152/week. For any weeks you earn more than this amount you won't be entitled to ESA. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-and-support-allowance-permitted-work-form/permitted-work-factsheet

So what does "not entitled" mean? does it just mean there wouldn't be a payment for that particular week and things would resume if the hours went down again, or does it mean the claim would end as soon as you reach or go above 16 hours, in which case it'd be better to not work at all if you're gonna be expected to work over 16 hours *some* weeks but have no security over future hours?

It means the ESA claim would end.

Ceeem

Thanks, this is a minefield, and the more I look into it the more complicated it gets.
Something I hadn't realised is that because I am the sole director of a limited company it might be even more complicated.

All the other employees have been made redundant but as the sole director I cannot make myself redundant (unless the company is insolvent and gets wound up, which isn't the case here), even though there is no longer work for me to do within the company.

If - on paper at least - I am still an employee, does that mean the company would have to pay me SSP for 28 weeks before I'm able to claim ESA ? Technically I am not off sick from my company, there is simply no work I can do as the company is unable to trade. Or could I just say I still work for the company but only say 0.5 hour per week as part of the permitted work?

My brain hurts right now...