Genuine and effective or marginal and ancillary?

Does any one know of any useful caselaw relating to what might make self employed work ‘genuine and effective’?

My client, a lone parent Polish national, has been working as an Avon rep since March last year. She tells me she’s been doing over 16 hours a week on various aspects of the business, including looking for new clients, admin etc, but her earnings so far have been very low - average about £7 per week after costs, so basiclly she has been surviving on CHB, Tax Credits and HB/CTB.  It looks unlikely her earnings will increase much in the forseeable future as she is struggling to keep clients, and no-one is ordering anything.  Her HB/CTB claim was suspended in November so they could investigate, and has just now been refused from that date, it seems they were prepared to accept the low earnings for a while, while she built up the business, but no longer.  From what she tells me the earnings have bene low all the way along, rather than gradually building up.

I have said she ought to cut her Avon hours or stop altogether, and sign on, and make a fresh HB/CTB claim as a jobseeker, which she says she is going to do, but she also wants to appeal the period of the suspension.  Any pointers how I could argue this or is it a non-starter?  I have found caselaw about employed workers but wondered I there was any thing that might more closely reflect her situation.

http://www.administrativeappeals.tribunals.gov.uk/aspx/view.aspx?id=3409

try this recent one

The link above is all over today’s papers.  Knew it sounded familiar.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4069248/Big-Issue-seller-from-Romania-can-claim-20K-housing-benefit-news-Judge-says-she-is-self-employed-and-entitled-to-payments.html  (Don’t judge me, I wanted the £9.50 holiday!)