How can I amke a little extra money? And how much am I allowed to make? If any!

[Disenchanted3]

DH is unable to work and we recieve income support, I can't see him going back to work anytime soon, hes just been put on another 6 month waiting list for another treatment and just passed (or failed) his medical for jobcentre proving he is unfit for work.

Money is tight though and I really want to make a few extra quid a month so I can do a few things (take the kids out every so often and I would really like them to have swimming lessons)

Plus Im trying to pay of our debt.

Am I allowed to earn anything without affecting our benefits? (£20 a month would cover the swimming lessons so even that would be great for us!)

Thanks

Why is he receiving income support and not ESA (Employment and Support Allowance)?
If he is on ESA you could be a millionaire and he would still get it.

If he is indeed only entitled to IS then you can only earn £20 pwk before it is deducted pound for pound from your benefits.

Have you maybe worked enough to be eligible for JSA?

Re: your debts, depending on how much it is, have you considered bankruptcy? If you are on IS you should only be repaying £5-10 wk MAX on all of your debts together. You should go to a CAB or a money advice centre and get someone to look through all your finances.

Never heard of ESA, income support is just what we get.

Thanks for your help.

ESA (employment and support allowance) is the 'new' Incapacity benefit.

you say dh is unable to work
maybe foreverastudent is wondering why you aren't getting a benefit you appear to be entitled to.

I'm sorry I dont know how much you can earn before it affects your benefit
good lcuk

I'm genuinly not sure, when we first applied we were put worward for IS and IB, then told we would get IS as it was at a higher rate or something.

ESA has never even been mentioned to us.

Will look it up and see what the criteria is, cheers x

From 27 October 2008 Employment and Support Allowance replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid on incapacity grounds for new customers.

perhaps its because hes been on IS since before oct 2008 so not a 'new customer' and so not intitled to it?