Hello All,

I have a client who receives SDA with IS top up and DLA.

He is interested in photography and would like to explore the possibility of selling his photographs.

As he would effectively be self-employed I'm aware that his earnings should be averaged out over the year- but in terms of the type of permitted work he might then be doing, I guess he might not know until after 12months accounts.In which case his benefits could get in a right muddle.

Also, in terms of hours worked, how would that be worked out? Would the taking, developing and trying to sell the photos all be taken into account?

Does anyone have any experience of someone who has been self-employed and doing permitted work? Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Thanks

I've not dealt with anything similar myself but I would agree that the you activities you mentioned would all count as work if it was all done in the expectation of payment and is not trivial or negligible (CIB/5298/1997).

Earnings from S/E are normally calculated over a year but if this is the first year, they are calculated over whatever period the DM thinks will give the most accurate figure.

This is going to be tricky, but there are alternatives your client might want to consider if he hasn't already:

1) Could he to the work on a voluntary basis - i.e. not charge for it?
2) He could formally start work of 16 hours and claim working tax credit in place of his existing benefits. Give him information about the welfare to work beneficiary scheme so he'll be protected if it doesn't work out.

and make sure that there's nothing about his proposed self employment that could impact on his DLA - we know what they're like for stopping that at the first hint of paid work, even though it's irrelevant...

Thanks for your help.