I have a friend who is on income support and disability living
alloweance I think its called at the middle and lower rate (not sure
what that bit means) due to having a severe mental illness.

He's having a good crack at getting his life together and wants to start
working a bit to gain some self esteem and back into mainstream living
(his words) fair play sounds good to me. I find a lot of comfort in
working, passes the time. If I was at home I'd be bored to death.

He only wants to work a few hours so he can remain on benefits as its at
the moment his security blanket as such financially. But wants to fully
come off it all at some point when he finds a secure job if such a thing
exists.

Considering hes claiming for mental illness will him working part time
be ok ?

How many hours is acceptable to work before they start deducting benefits ?

Anything else helpful to pass on ?

Thanks

Peter smith wrote:
> I have a friend who is on income support and disability living
> alloweance I think its called at the middle and lower rate (not sure
> what that bit means) due to having a severe mental illness.
> 
> He's having a good crack at getting his life together and wants to start
> working a bit to gain some self esteem and back into mainstream living
> (his words) fair play sounds good to me. I find a lot of comfort in
> working, passes the time. If I was at home I'd be bored to death.
> 
> He only wants to work a few hours so he can remain on benefits as its at
> the moment his security blanket as such financially. But wants to fully
> come off it all at some point when he finds a secure job if such a thing
> exists.
> 
> Considering hes claiming for mental illness will him working part time
> be ok ?
> 
> How many hours is acceptable to work before they start deducting benefits ?
> 
> Anything else helpful to pass on ?
> 
> Thanks

For Income Support he can only earn up to £20 before his benefit is 
affected (above £20 his benefit is reduced pound for pound for what he 
earns) and he can only work under 16 hours in total to even stay on 
Income Support - at £20 that is less than 4 hours per week at minimum 
wage rates, assuming he is 25+. For Income Support there should be very 
little problem in him doing some work without any comeback.

His main problem is DLA. I'm assuming he gets middle rate care and lower 
rate mobility - and whilst DLA is not means tested and work in itself is 
not something that stops a person getting DLA what is very important is 
why he is getting DLA. If the work he proposes to do conflicts with his 
reasons for getting DLA then he may / will be asked to complete a review 
form and his DLA may be suspended in the meantime. But there are many 
people on DLA who either work full time, do some part time work or do 
voluntary work. Like I said, it depends on the full reasons why he gets 
DLA. He needs to discuss this aspect of his claim with a disability 
organisation who can help him further.

http://www.dialuk.info/ is a place to start, to see if there is anybody 
local who can provide further help and information. If not there are 
other organisations such as MIND or Shaw Trust who can provide advice 
and support.

Has he considered doing some voluntary work as a starting point?

"Robbie"  wrote in message 
news:7jj7ilF34dhibU1@mid.individual.net...
> Peter smith wrote:
>> I have a friend who is on income support and disability living
>> alloweance I think its called at the middle and lower rate (not sure
>> what that bit means) due to having a severe mental illness.
>>
>> He's having a good crack at getting his life together and wants to start
>> working a bit to gain some self esteem and back into mainstream living
>> (his words) fair play sounds good to me. I find a lot of comfort in
>> working, passes the time. If I was at home I'd be bored to death.
>>
>> He only wants to work a few hours so he can remain on benefits as its at
>> the moment his security blanket as such financially. But wants to fully
>> come off it all at some point when he finds a secure job if such a thing
>> exists.
>>
>> Considering hes claiming for mental illness will him working part time
>> be ok ?
>>
>> How many hours is acceptable to work before they start deducting benefits 
>> ?
>>
>> Anything else helpful to pass on ?
>>
>> Thanks
>
> For Income Support he can only earn up to £20 before his benefit is 
> affected (above £20 his benefit is reduced pound for pound for what he 
> earns) and he can only work under 16 hours in total to even stay on Income 
> Support -


No wonder people dont want to work, what an incentive that is to do nothing 
at all, the government are saying forget about work, you are better off on 
benefit.

>
> For Income Support he can only earn up to £20 before his benefit is 
> affected (above £20 his benefit is reduced pound for pound for what he 
> earns) and he can only work under 16 hours in total to even stay on Income 
> Support - at £20 that is less than 4 hours per week at minimum wage rates, 
> assuming he is 25+. For Income Support there should be very little problem 
> in him doing some work without any comeback.


Sorry to hijack the thread Is the above the same for JSA claimants ?

tia
>

On 13 Oct, 14:02, "Farcry"  wrote:
> > For Income Support he can only earn up to £20 before his benefit is
> > affected (above £20 his benefit is reduced pound for pound for what he
> > earns) and he can only work under 16 hours in total to even stay on Income
> > Support - at £20 that is less than 4 hours per week at minimum wage rates,
> > assuming he is 25. For Income Support there should be very little problem
> > in him doing some work without any comeback.
>
> Sorry to hijack the thread Is the above the same for JSA claimants ?
>
> tia
>

The figure is £5, £10 or £20 depending on circumstances:

"If you work part-time, the first £5.00, £10.00, or £20.00 of your
earnings (net of Income Tax, National Insurance and half of any
pension fund contribution) is disregarded in assessing your claim to
Jobseekers Allowance.

"The standard disregard on part-time earnings is £5.00 a week, but a
higher £20.00 disregard is applied to the following groups:

"Jobseeker's Allowance (Income based)
lone parents;
disabled people entitled to the disability premium;
certain people aged over 60;
carers entitled to the carer premium.

"Jobseeker's Allowance (Contribution based)
share fishermen.

"Jobseeker's Allowance (Income based & Contribution based)
members of certain specialist groups e.g. part-time firefighters and
reservists.

"In assessing Jobseeker's Allowance (Income based) those claiming as a
couple have the first £10.00 of their earnings disregarded.

"When working out benefit entitlement earnings in excess of the
disregarded amount are taken into account on a 1 pence for 1 pence
basis.

"No allowance is made for any employment expenses, for example, fares
to work, unless they are incurred during employment, for example,
tools and equipment.

"Customers who are working, on average, 16 hours or more a week (24
hours or more in the case of partners in Jobseeker's Allowance (Income
based)) are not normally eligible for Jobseeker's Allowance.

"Exceptions to the above are:
certain carers and trainees;
volunteers;
people living in a residential care or nursing home;
special occupations i.e. lifeboatmen, part-time firemen, Territorial
Army, Volunteer Reserves and coastguards, PSNI(R);
Local Councillors and foster parents;
in certain circumstances, people involved in a trade dispute;
disabled people with low earnings due to disability;
share fishermen claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (Contribution based).
For these people, there are no restrictions on the hours they can
spend doing this type of work and still remain eligible to claim
Jobseeker's Allowance."

Farcry wrote:
> 
>>
>> For Income Support he can only earn up to £20 before his benefit is 
>> affected (above £20 his benefit is reduced pound for pound for what he 
>> earns) and he can only work under 16 hours in total to even stay on 
>> Income Support - at £20 that is less than 4 hours per week at minimum 
>> wage rates, assuming he is 25+. For Income Support there should be 
>> very little problem in him doing some work without any comeback.
> 
> 
> Sorry to hijack the thread Is the above the same for JSA claimants ?
> 
> tia
>>

No - it's worse! Or at least was, it may have changed. From what I can 
remember it is £5 for a single claimant, £10 for a couple. It may have 
changed in recent years though I think it is the same - and has been the 
same since 1988.

Niteawk wrote:
> 
> "Robbie"  wrote in message 
> news:7jj7ilF34dhibU1@mid.individual.net...
>> Peter smith wrote:
>>> I have a friend who is on income support and disability living
>>> alloweance I think its called at the middle and lower rate (not sure
>>> what that bit means) due to having a severe mental illness.
>>>
>>> He's having a good crack at getting his life together and wants to start
>>> working a bit to gain some self esteem and back into mainstream living
>>> (his words) fair play sounds good to me. I find a lot of comfort in
>>> working, passes the time. If I was at home I'd be bored to death.
>>>
>>> He only wants to work a few hours so he can remain on benefits as its at
>>> the moment his security blanket as such financially. But wants to fully
>>> come off it all at some point when he finds a secure job if such a thing
>>> exists.
>>>
>>> Considering hes claiming for mental illness will him working part time
>>> be ok ?
>>>
>>> How many hours is acceptable to work before they start deducting 
>>> benefits ?
>>>
>>> Anything else helpful to pass on ?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>
>> For Income Support he can only earn up to £20 before his benefit is 
>> affected (above £20 his benefit is reduced pound for pound for what he 
>> earns) and he can only work under 16 hours in total to even stay on 
>> Income Support -
> 
> 
> No wonder people dont want to work, what an incentive that is to do 
> nothing at all, the government are saying forget about work, you are 
> better off on benefit.
> 

There's certainly a case for looking at the earnings disregards figures, 
some haven't changed since the means tested benefits system was reformed 
in 1988.