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Paid research and UC
Hopefully a simple query but can’t seem to find an solid answer.
A client of mine does the odd bit of paid research. She fills in an ‘expenses form’ as she descries it and she gets money for a couple of hours work intermittently. This is from universities in our area. She hasn’t got a contract and I don’t think it can be counted as work as it’s random and no where near 16 hours per week but should she be telling the DWP? She gets UC and is in LCWRA. The permitted work lower limit of £20 is sometimes hit
She has said that someone she knows got £70 for 2 hours “work” and didn’t declare it.
would this “work” jeopardise her LCWRA award?
Again, I’m possibly overthinking things. Thanks for any help/advice in advance.
She gets UC and is in LCWRA. The permitted work lower limit of £20 is sometimes hit.
The permitted work rules apply to ESA. The closest equivalent in UC would be the work allowance and it sounds like client may be well below any work allowance threshold anyway (?)
Not something I’ve had any reason to look at before but HMRC manual appears to confirm no employment relationship in this kind of set up and that payments made to cover out of pocket expenses and compensation for time spent are not taxable (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim71105). Looking at reg 51 et seq of the UC Regs I’d argue it doesn’t fall to be treated as earned income and also doesn’t fit into reg 66 to be counted as unearned income.
As to whether this could jeopardise her LCWRA element. Not specifically although it might be worth considering in relation to whatever points were awarded and might get asked about in a WCA.
The problem is she would have had to accept a Claimant Commitment. She would have read the text on her UC account and then clicked on the green Accept tab. She should be able to retrieve the Commitment by clicking on the My Commitments tab on her UC account. She can do this on her phone. I’m pretty sure it will say ” I will report changes to my circumstances promptly, including changes to work “. Also there is no such thing as Permitted Work in UC as there is with ESA.
I take part in similar research on a regular basis alongside others on benefits including UC and chose to research at length for the benefit of others and also with regard to whether I needed to declare to my employer HMRC etc. Can’t remember the exact process I went through but the conclusion was irrefutably that this is out of pocket expenses; doesn’t need to be declared; isn’t taxable etc.