Millions of people in the UK rely on disability benefits to survive. However, some of them continue to work at reduced frequencies. If you’re someone who receives state support for a disability or neurodivergence, you may be thinking about how many hours you can work on disability benefits. We’ll get into that and reveal the types of work people on disability benefits can do.
What Are Disability Benefits?
People who live with a disability, neurodivergence, or health conditions can receive forms of government funding to help them. If they cannot work, they may need state funding to survive. Research suggests the number of people entitled to disability benefits rose to almost 7 million in 2024. This contrasts against the roughly 16 million people registered as disabled in the UK.
Disability benefits can help people in different ways and individuals can access them in different forms:
New Style Employment and Support Allowance (ESA): Anyone can apply for ESA funding if they have a disability, neurodivergence, or health condition that impacts how much they can work. ESA can fund living costs or support getting back into work.
Universal Credit (UC): Individuals who have limitations on how much work they can do may get an extra amount of Universal Credit.
Attendance Allowance: this helps with extra costs when someone needs living assistance for their disability.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP): There are two parts to a PIP. One is the daily living part, if you need help with everyday tasks, and the second is the mobility part.
Other types of disability-related financial assistance:
Of course, disability benefits are different from government grants that help people who can work to work to their full capabilities. Access to Work, for example, is government funding that provides augmentative and supportive interventions for people in work based on their individual needs. Access to Work can provide targeted support to neurodivergent and disabled individuals such as support workers, job coaches, bespoke training, or assistive technology.
Access to Work also currently provides up to £70,000 to fund specific tools or supportive interventions that help individuals overcome barriers from their disability or neurodivergence and do their jobs. But the funding will only support individuals who are in full-time employment.
Permitted Work for Employment and Support Allowance
People who have disabilities, illnesses, or neurodivergence that stop or prevent them from working to their full capability are likely to need financial assistance. But even if they’re receiving Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), they’re still allowed to work in a limited capacity.
Gaining permission to work without forfeiting financial support can offer benefits to individuals like learning new skills, building professional networks, and gaining confidence. But how many hours can you work on disability benefits?
Statistics show over 6 million people were on Universal Credit in January 2024, with 2.4 of those in employment of some form. So, many people with disabilities, health conditions, and illnesses can and do still work while retaining payments and NI credits.
Such individuals come under a government classification known as ‘Permitted work’. There is no limit on the number of weeks you can do permitted work. You can do any type of permitted work for as long as you do one at a time. So let’s look more closely at some definitions.
Permitted Work Lower Limit
The Permitted work lower limit puts a cap on earning more than £20 per week. But being aware of this should help you when reviewing how many hours can you work on disability benefits. If you do engage with this type of permitted work, you’ll have to inform the DWP in writing.
Permitted Work Higher Limit
The higher permitted work limit suggests you can work to the following terms:
Work for a minimum of 16 hours each week
Earn no more than £183.50 each week, after tax and National Insurance deductions
If you go over the permitted work limit, your ESA payments may stop. This means you may have to reapply. Applicants should check how much ESA they’ll get before taking on work that could push them over their permitted limit.
Supported Permitted Work
The third type of work is Supported permitted work. This is for people with a disability, an illness, or some type of health condition who can’t work for more than a few hours each week. To do their work, they may need supervision from a professional support worker employed by a public or voluntary organisation.
If supervised or in receipt of support from a treatment programme in a hospital, individuals can still earn £183.50 per week. And there is no limit on the number of hours they work.
Other Allowed Work
It may help to consider the other types of work you could do when calculating how many hours can you work on disability benefits. Specific examples of the types of work that go beyond Permitted or Supported work include:
Working as a councillor
Becoming a member of a First Tier Tribunal for HM Courts and Tribunals Service for 1 full day or 2 half days a week
Unpaid government-approved work placements to get work experience
Emergency work to protect individuals or damage to property or livestock
Being a carer for a relative or getting paid to be a live-in carer or foster carer
Domestic work in your own home
Participation in a ‘test trading scheme’ helping people to become self-employed
Voluntary Work
Doing voluntary work is also permitted when receiving ESA or UC benefits. But individuals must meet the conditions of the benefit. Voluntary work is valuable for developing new skills and networks. And it’s possible to volunteer in the following ways:
You cannot receive any payment for work unless you’ve incurred expenses to volunteer such as travel costs, meals, or childcare needs.
It’s not possible to act as a volunteer for relatives like parents, grandparents, siblings, children, or spouses.
Applicants need to complete relevant documentation with details of their volunteering before starting any work.
They must also inform their benefits office such as the DWP or Jobcentre Plus about any unpaid work they do. They should include details of the volunteering and keep them informed of any updates and changes.
Rich is one of the Founders and Directors here at CareScribe. Rich has a passion for healthcare and assistive technology and has been innovating in this space for the last decade, developing market leading assistive technology that’s changing the lives of clients around the globe.
Our Products
Levelling the playing field for people with disabilities.
Our small but mighty team builds leading-edge software that people love. We pride ourselves on a user-led approach to product design. The voice of the customer shapes what we create and that’s exactly how great assistive tech should be made.
