voluntary work

just got my letter telling me that I am about to get my phone call from the benefits office as part of the migration to esa. When I get the questionnaire should I tell them I have been doing some voluntary work? I do one and a half hours a week sorting clothes in a charity shop as that is all I can physically manage due to pain.
Many thanks

tlo wrote:

just got my letter telling me that I am about to get my phone call from the benefits office as part of the migration to esa. When I get the questionnaire should I tell them I have been doing some voluntary work? I do one and a half hours a week sorting clothes in a charity shop as that is all I can physically manage due to pain.
Many thanks

I thought you had to contact the DWP before you did any work paid or not ?

Hi tlo

I'm not a moderator or an expert. You may like to follow this link and the paragraph on voluntary work www.disabilityalliance.org/f35.htm It would seem to say, you can do voluntary work for anyone other than a relative if on IB or employment and support allowance and theres no limit on the hours you can volunteer.

Hope this is of help.

The guide entitled "Caution! It May Not Count as Voluntary Work" is useful to claimants who are receiving sickness/disability and undertaking voluntary work, and is available in the section entitled Work resources.

It is also correct that all voluntary work has to be reported to the DWP prior to commencement, as it is a relevant and material change of circumstances which could affect ongoing benefit entitlement?

I thought the OP was referring to whether or not to tell Medical Services on the questionnaire.

As far as I know it's DWP procedure to inform Atos if a claimant is undertaking permitted work but I doubt this occurs for voluntary work.

The IB50 form had a question: Use this space to tell us anything you think we might need to know.

Clearly you would only be required to mention voluntary work if you felt they might need to know. But the ESA50 does not ask such a question or about hobbies or day-to-day activities but only how your illness affects the WCA activities. So I think it is only necessary to mention voluntary work if you feel it's relevant to describing how your illness affects the WCA descriptors.

However if you don't mention it on the ESA50, you may be asked if you do voluntary work at the face-to-face assessment and ideally anything you say at the assessment should be backed-up by your ESA50 in case it is recorded inaccurately on the ESA85 medical report.

Assuming the voluntary work has been reported to the DWP in accordance with form BF1014, I see no reason why it should be mentioned on form ESA50.

If the approved disability analyst does happen to ask if a claimant does voluntary work, in my view nothing turns on the point that no mention of the fact was made on the ESA50, because as you have said the question is not listed on the form. However, a claimant would have to be particularly wary about how voluntary work may impact on the WCA descriptors, especially those pertinent to mental health should they apply, which you have also alluded to in your post.