Permitted work and supported permitted work for incapcity benefit

HappySad

I have just read this about incapcity benefit...... and explain...
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/FinancialSupport/DG_10020667

1. Can you get permitted work from any employer; as long as the job is for under 16 hours?

2. Can you only get permitted work from charities and organisations etc setup to do permitted work?

3. Are you only allowed to do supported permitted work and still get your incapacity benefit?

Fleago

Hi Happysad,

This link might help to make it clearer for you, although it is very slightly out of date in one respect in that it states that the upper limit of earnings is £86 when it is now £88.50.

Also, you can work for any employer; the term "permitted work" refers only to a benefit arrangement, not to a special type of job or anything like that, as long, as you said, it is less than sixteen hours.

Hope this helps,

Fleago

HappySad

Thanks for this Fleago. Will my child/working tax credit be reduced by the amount earned?

What determines the work at the lower rate £20 or the higher rate £88? You can earn either for an unlimited amount of time but I can't see how you can quality for the higher rate?

Fleago

Hi Happysad,

To the best of my knowledge, the amount you can earn depends on the benefit that you are receiving, ie, whether your Incapacity Benefit is contributions based or is actually incapacity based Income Support.

To be honest, probably the best thing you could do is to phone your local Jobcentre Plus and ask for an appointment with the Disability Employment Advisor who would be able to look at your circumstances and advise you of what the situation would be regarding permitted work. Failing that, if you have a Welfare Rights office near you, they should be able to do the same thing.

I must confess to being a bit baffled about the working tax credit - isn't that only payable if you are working more than 16 hours per week, or is it working tax credit that yor partner is claiming? In any event, it doesn't matter, as the DEA could look at all the household income and advise you on what's best for your circumstances.

calleyw

Also don't forget you can only do permitted work for 52 weeks in total.

where as with supported permitted work you can do for as long as you like.

Yours

Calley