Hi
I am going to be doing some welfare rights work with Big Issue vendors and the tricky subject of their earnings has come up.
If they are on JSA then I assume that their earnings would have to be taken into account after the usual disregards. However, their earnings vary wildly from week to week. Is it likely that they would want to average this out over a period of weeks to reach a figure? If that is the case, and all transactions are cash, do the DWP just take the vendors word?
Also, some of the very organised vendors are registered to pay tax - are these then treated as self-employed? They buy the magazine for xx amount from Big Issue and then sell it on to make a small profit. When looking at earnings do we we just look at what they make on a transaction?
Lastly - if they are on the streets all day every day selling the magazine, is this counted as 16 hours or more work a week?

It all seems a bit cloudy so thanks for any help on this one.

They would be treated as self employed.
Consequently they would need to keep some sort of accounting record of receipts and expenses plus hours worked. The remunerative work exclusion of 16 hours would apply.