VOSA and DSS or DWP

Just going back to work after some time ill. I am allowed to work 16 hours to see how I get on. If I am over this through being held up on the road does VOSA inform the DHSS about the hours on your DIGI card? Thanks Sam

samwilson1:
Just going back to work after some time ill. I am allowed to work 16 hours to see how I get on. If I am over this through being held up on the road does VOSA inform the DHSS about the hours on your DIGI card? Thanks Sam

What do you mean by “I am allowed to work 16 hours”, not under EU regulations you’re not, nor under domestic regulation for that matter :confused:

Unless you’re multi-manning it’s 15 hour maximum spread-over under EU regulations and that’s only 3 times between weekly rest periods, the other shifts should be no more than 13 hour spread-overs.

I’m not sure if I’ve misunderstood your post but I’m sorry if I have :wink:

Anyway to answer your question, if you run legal I can’t imagine any reason why VOSA would inform anyone about what hours you work let alone DHSS, actually I don’t see how VOSA would even know that the DHSS would be interested.

Sorry it’s 16hours a week I am allowed to work.

Means 16 hours a week.

As daft as it sounds I think it means you can get around the situation you describe by only being paid 16 hours even if you work say 17 or 18 cos of a delay. Bit crap but its the only legit way I can think round it.

Oh yeah and I think you would be perfectly fine anyhow regarding sharing of info between agencies unless there is an investigation by one of them specifically into you I.e benefit fraud (dss) or drivers hours (vosa).

samwilson1:
Sorry it’s 16hours a week I am allowed to work.

Has this anything to do with benefits because I have never known the medical profession or the DVLA to impose such a thing ■■ = Me very confused

The only possible problem could be if you were stopped for a multi-agency check.

samwilson1:
Just going back to work after some time ill. I am allowed to work 16 hours to see how I get on. If I am over this through being held up on the road does VOSA inform the DHSS about the hours on your DIGI card? Thanks Sam

If you’ve informed your advisor you should be ok. If it’s irregular agency work you’re getting (i.e. you don’t know when and how long you’ll be working) they calculate the average amount you’ve worked over a period of five weeks or so.
Just make sure to tell them before you do any work and make sure you declare it and fill in the appropriate form when you sign on.
Good luck getting back to work. A good while ago now I was off work for nearly six months after an accident and although my employer was fully supportive it was a struggle getting back into the full swing of things.

I think he means your allowed to work 16 hours a week before you have to declare it to the DWP, and if VOSA stopped him and his digi card showed he worked say 20 hours, would they tell the DWP. I personally would say no, as VOSA wouldn’t know your on the dole/benefits unless you told them. But they do have joint operations from time to time along with the Police, Customs & Border Agency. If you do go over 16 hours you can declare the extra hours to the DWP yourself, they’ll take it off your dole/benefits.

I think he means your allowed to work 16 hours a week before you have to declare it to the DWP, and if VOSA stopped him and his digi card showed he worked say 20 hours, would they tell the DWP. I personally would say no, as VOSA wouldn’t know your on the dole/benefits unless you told them. But they do have joint operations from time to time along with the Police, Customs & Border Agency. If you do go over 16 hours you can declare the extra hours to the DWP yourself, they’ll take it off your dole/benefits.

ROG:

samwilson1:
Sorry it’s 16hours a week I am allowed to work.

Has this anything to do with benefits because I have never known the medical profession or the DVLA to impose such a thing ■■ = Me very confused

You can work 16 hours a week without stopping your benefits. Usually if you work more than 16 hours you have to sign off. They take your earnings off the amount of dole money you get. Think they still leave you a fiver though :slight_smile:

samwilson1:
Sorry it’s 16hours a week I am allowed to work.

Sorry I misunderstood your post, my only excuse is that I’m really thick :blush: :stuck_out_tongue: :wink:

By the way, I don’t know about your illness but it’s good that you are on the mend enough to be getting back to work, good luck with it :wink:

If on benefits then ALL paid work must be reported to the DWP = that’s law and not doing so the person can be charged with fraud !!

Doing under 16 hours or, and this is the bit most forget, getting no more than 16 hours x minimum wage, means that a certain amount of benefits can be retained = not signed off them

ROG:
If on benefits then ALL paid work must be reported to the DWP = that’s law and not doing so the person can be charged with fraud !!

Doing under 16 hours or, and this is the bit most forget, getting no more than 16 hours x minimum wage, means that a certain amount of benefits can be retained = not signed off them

There are exceptions to that though. I’ll come clean despite the fear of persecution. I worked for the DWP recently on a fixed term contract, I was just beginning to learn all of this when the contract ended and was told “Sorry, Ian Duncan Smith says we aren’t allowed to keep you on.”
Some of my facts may be hazy half-truths but the safe, and only, bet is to tell your advisor asap so you know where you stand.

Im currently drawing Job Seekers Allowance, and this is how it is.

To claim JSA, you must be working UNDER 16 hours a week AND be willing and able to stat a new job as well as looking for work.

ALL work must be declared to your adviser (he will write it down on a time sheet) and your benefit will be reduced accordingly!

HTH

B…

Since all paid work is knocked off basic unemployment (JSA) benefits after the first £10, what’s the point of trying to work some system where you keep your hours under 16?

Let’s say you get £65 a week JSA, and you get offered 15 hours work @ £7ph = £105.

The way I understand it, they disregard the first £10 of your earnings, then deduct the rest from the JSA, so you’d get bugger all in this example beyond the wages earned.
If it’s tax credits one is talking about, then you cease getting them after 4 weeks on less than 24 hours work a week (“run-on period has expired”)

Best to get your hours upto 24+ (ideally 30) at the earliest opportunity, and even if you have no kids and live in a bedsit, you’d qualify for working tax credit to the tune of around £60pw, assuming you’re only going to work 24 hours a week at around minimum wage with no other earners living with you. :wink:

Winseer:
Since all paid work is knocked off basic unemployment (JSA) benefits after the first £10, what’s the point of trying to work some system where you keep your hours under 16?

I think the point is that if he works fewer than 16 hours per week, he can remain “signed on”, and will continue to receive his benefits (albeit they will be reduced, as you said, by more-or-less what he earns). Once he starts working more than 16 hours per week, he has to “sign off”. Not a problem in itself as the wages should come to more than the benefits. However, if the work stops (or drops below 16 hours per week) he has to wait (six weeks? something like that) before he can “sign on” again. That’s my understanding at any rate - quite possibly well wide of the mark.

Yes, the stop-start sign on process is likely to backlog the paperwork to the extent you’ll end up waiting weeks for money it’s true.

However, the claim is backdated to the first day of signing on for a new claim money-wise, so nothing is lost apart from the cashflow of having to get by with no money for a few weeks, and then getting a large cheque with all the backdated money in it.

For those seriously wanting to work, the DSS system stinks in that it’s too long-winded, is overly intrusive, and doesn’t allow for the simple facts that most work is agency these days, which frequently will involve not finding out you’re not working in any particular week until it’s at the end of it, by which point its too late to sign on for that week. :frowning:

January 2012 taught me the hard way that there isn’t a system to be worked here, unless you had no intention of working at all.

You’re better off I found working a single day per week and not bothering to sign on at all. Later in the year, should you then get more work by this point, you’ll find yourself paying very little tax, because of the rolled-up unused tax code allowance from when you were only doing the single day, but refusing to sign on. Getting upto 24 and then 30 hours means getting that working tax credit that is about the same size as JSA anyway, so you want to escape from 1-23 hours work per week as quick as you can. Treat it like a minefield to be quickly traversed. :wink:

Yes, the stop-start sign on process is likely to backlog the paperwork to the extent you’ll end up waiting weeks for money it’s true.

However, the claim is backdated to the first day of signing on for a new claim money-wise, so nothing is lost apart from the cashflow of having to get by with no money for a few weeks, and then getting a large cheque with all the backdated money in it.

For those seriously wanting to work, the DSS system stinks in that it’s too long-winded, is overly intrusive, and doesn’t allow for the simple facts that most work is agency these days, which frequently will involve not finding out you’re not working in any particular week until it’s at the end of it, by which point its too late to sign on for that week. :frowning:

January 2012 taught me the hard way that there isn’t a system to be worked here, unless you had no intention of working at all.

You’re better off I found working a single day per week and not bothering to sign on at all. Later in the year, should you then get more work by this point, you’ll find yourself paying very little tax, because of the rolled-up unused tax code allowance from when you were only doing the single day, but refusing to sign on. Getting upto 24 and then 30 hours means getting that working tax credit that is about the same size as JSA anyway, so you want to escape from 1-23 hours work per week as quick as you can. Treat it like a minefield to be quickly traversed. :wink:

skinhead:
The only possible problem could be if you were stopped for a multi-agency check.

Yes ^^^^ that is correct…I was once invited along to a Dangerous Goods roadside check as an observer.
Present were: Traffic Police checking all Dangerous Goods Doc’s, equipment, markings etc.
VOSA checking Drivers’ Hours & for roadworthiness defects.
DWP checking drivers were not illegally claiming benefits.
Customs & Excise (as was) dipping tanks for red diesel.

Truly was a multi-agency operation.