Board members, payment of services and UC

Hello

I think I know the answer but wanted to bounce ideas of others!

We have a tenant that is possibly going to become a board member - she would get a payment of service - which is basically a £5000 which has been said its for her expenses etc.

so if the expenses are Wholly, exclusively and necessarily for the board member role would this then be ignored as income for UC purposes?

My gut is that yes it would be ignored - it would be similar to a local councillor expenses but dont want to tell her one thing if in fact ive misread it :)

I think you’re probably right but it is all likely to depend on the view HMRC, rather than DWP, take of these expenses. That’s because what counts and doesn’t count for income in UC is tied in to the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act (ITEPA). The starting point in the UC Regs would be that this is earned income because it is remuneration in an office - regulation 52(a)(i). But it doesn’t count for UC purposes if it doesn’t count for income tax purposes - regulation 55 - under either Part 4 of ITEPA or Chapter 2 of Part 5 of ITEPA.  I’m no expert on ITEPA but it may be that local councillors’ expenses fall under Part 4 whereas your board members would be covered by chapter 2 of Part 5. So I would think checking with HMRC is the safe option.