Working tax credits

[Fiz]

A job has been advertised that I wonder if I might be able to do. It's not great salary as per normal in the voluntary sector but I think I could manage on the full time salary, just. However my social worker has suggested that I might not be able to work full time with my MH problems and I do fear she may be right and my going for such a post, especially a fairly demanding (imo) role would be detriment to my health. The job spec says they are open to a job share of a split 2/3 days between 2 people which I couldn't live on obviously.

But am I right in thinking that if someone receives DLA then if they work a set amount of hours a week they can claim working tax credits?

My worry then is come September 2014 when my current DLA award ends and I am reassessed for PIP and don't get it, what then?!

[seegee]

Here's some information about WTC.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/tc956.pdf

Fiz, when your reassessment comes around you might get PIP - catastrophic thinking such as "when I... don't get it" sounds rather like a depressed person. 
That, combined with things you have said on another thread, has me thinking that you should not be applying for work unless it is perhaps one half-day per week on a voluntary basis. 

You need to be eating a reasonable meal or two every day before you try to take on work even for a couple of days a week. 
When I say reasonable meal, I do of course mean in a medical sense; what a doctor would recommend rather than what you currently think is OK.  Your brain (not just the rest of your body) needs fuel if it's to work properly... fuel=energy=calories; you can't function properly on vitamin pills & less than 1000kcal a day. 
Please try to shunt the ED out of your life as your first priority. >bighugs<

[Monic1511]

Hi Fiz

Its 16 hours for someone with the disability element, but if you can try & get someone to do a "better off" calculation - this would show you how much rent council tax you would have to pay if your benefits change and you have income instead

best wishes
Monic

[Mabelcat]

www.turn2us.org.uk has a benefit calculator.

[Fiz]

Apparently if I work under 16 hours a week I could still receive my income related employment support allowance in full under the permitted work scheme for a year is this correct? That seems bizarre. Even if in the support group?

[Mabelcat]

Edited due to wrong information.

Disability Rights UK has info on this.

I'm afraid Seegee is right however that you really need to prioritise you health at the moment.  It doesn't mean you couldn't do some work but 2 to 3 days a week is a lot.  I am hoping to return to work soon but whilst my contracted hours are 16.5 a week it is going to take me at least a couple of months to get back to that even though I can work partly from home.

[Monic1511]

Apparently if I work under 16 hours a week I could still receive my income related employment support allowance in full under the permitted work scheme for a year is this correct? That seems bizarre. Even if in the support group?


Yes you could do permitted work but if you do then a reconsideration of your ESA may be triggered and you could end up in the work group or even fit for work.  Its that catch 22 that makes it very difficult to do any work even voluntary.

This has some of the rules as I can't retype the cpag handbook just now - sorry  >zzz<

Monic ;-)

[Fiz]

looking at the criteria for working tax credits disability element - one option is that you have a medical condition that prevents you from working for 8 hour days or 5 days a week, is mental illness a medical condition? Not really is it, medical is physical isn't it? Not sure I would fit the criteria and yet I am not well enough to work 8 hour days 5 days a week

[KizzyKazaer]

..medical is physical isn't it?

No, no, a thousand times no!   'Medical' is... as diagnosed by a medical professional, be it GP or psychiatrist or whoever.  When my mental health was failing back in 2005, I cut my hours in an attempt to keep working and I received WTC then (had DLA lower rate care at that time).  It's as valid a disabling condition as physical, but you don't need me to tell you that really ;-)

[Fiz]

I now have the application form and am planning on applying for either 2 or 3 days a week in this role hoping for a job share. I wouldn't contemplate it full time if there aren't other people coming forward who want job shares though.

[seegee]

Mental illness is just as "medical" as physical illness - if it wasn't so, why would all psychiatrists have to be doctors & all other doctors have to learn a bit about mental illnesses as well as physical ones? 

[Fiz]

Anyone know how much WTC is? I would be considerably worse off working 2 days a week than I am receiving ESA and the premiums added to it so am trying to find out how much WTC would be added to my weekly income if I were to work 2 days a week.

[KizzyKazaer]

This might help you get a handle on some of the figures:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/people-advise-others/entitlement-tables/work-no-child.htm#2


(edit for typo)

[Mabelcat]

There is a calculator for WTC on the HMRC site.

[Fiz]

Thanks, according to that I would be better off working but of course my housing benefit and council tax relief would go down by probably the same amount to make it all exactly the same? I think I am assuming I won't gain by working financially but would gain emotionally if I can cope with the work. Must admit, I have found completing the application form really stressful and demoralising, just feel I don't have the experience and skills needed to get a job atm. I only have one piece of work to write now, and that is to explain the impact of the recent welfare reforms. It's in my head, just need to get it on paper.