Starting a small business before retirement Vs (Google Adsense payments) Vs DWP Legalities

Knuzzle

Good morning,

I am currently on

Universal Credit

Universal Credit with limited ability to work

PIP (Basic)

I am due to retire on my 66th birthday which is in October 2024

I plan to start a small online business, I do not intend it to become massive, I just want an extra income to back up my retirement pension.

What I am trying to find out is, part of my planned venture will be earning an amount from Google Adsense from Niche websites.

Google can hold your payments for 1 year.

If I start the websites now (18 months before I retire) it usually takes approximately 6 months to recognise any sort of income from Google Adsense.

With that in mind, I will start earning revenue in October this year (1 year before I retire).

If I went onto the 1-year suspension scheme with Google and have them start paying me from October 2024, I should build up a reasonable small income.

In the eyes of the DWP, would going onto such a scheme with Google be construed as illegal?

Thank you

NedS

Generally, income is treated on the date you receive it. I am not sure how DWP would treat you if you are deliberately choosing to delay receiving that income until after your UC claim ends. It could potentially be viewed as deprivation of income, especially if you are deliberately and knowingly choosing to do it in order to increase the amount of UC you may be entitled to.