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ESA and work : Phased returns??
Quick question folks.
A client has just won her ESA appeal and is in WRAG. Her employer has kindly left her position open until she gets well enough to work.
She will start a phased return to work at 5 hours a week in a couple of weeks, earning £30.40.
Can anyone see any problems with this??
Could her phased return be classed as “permitted work” and therefore keep all earnings and all ESA money?
If not then I believe that she should still be able to claim (IR)ESA of about £88 per week (inc £20 disregard) until she returns to work full time.
Has anyone experienced any problems with the DWP regarding people returning to work whilst claiming ESA?
Thanks, as always
[ Edited: 7 Aug 2012 at 04:18 pm by benefitsadviser ]Quick question folks.
A client has just won her ESA appeal and is in WRAG. Her employer has kindly left her position open until she gets well enough to work.
She will start a phased return to work at 5 hours a week in a couple of weeks, earning £30.40.
Can anyone see any problems with this??
Could her phased return be classed as “permitted work” and therefore she would be able to keep all earnings and all ESA money?
If not then I believe that she should still be able to claim (IR)ESA of about £88 per week (inc £20 disregard) until she returns to work full time.
Has anyone experienced any problems with the DWP regarding people returning to work whilst claiming ESA?
Thanks, as always
Whoops : duplicated while editing for some reason!
I have not had any experience of someone returning to work for previous employer whilst being on ESA. However if she works within the permitted work levels (e.g. earns no more than £97.50pw, working for less than 16hrs pw, for up to 52 wks), I do not see why it would not be treated as permitted work; in which case any earnings that do not exceed the relevant limit are disregarded. She should notify the DWP that she is doing the work. However, what do others think?........
I agree it’s worth a try. However, if it is not so treated then she will lose her ESA unless the work she does is treated as de minimis and that will depend, as always, on the facts.
I agree, it’s ‘permitted work higher limit’ for a year. After a year the income disregard will go down to £20 per week.
However, if she has a new medical examination, the fact that she works can easily be used against her. This is contrary to the recommendations in the Atos Guide, but I would be worried about it. If they assess people as able to work because they can make sandwiches or ‘cold drinks for themselves’, what about being able to work regularly?
I’ve certainly helped someone to do this. Not so much a phased return (as client is due further surgery later this year) - more a chance to keep busy and keep his hand in as he would otherwise have been out of the workplace for at least 2 years due to the need for repeated surgery.
No problems that I’m aware of for ESA.
Mairi