I would be grateful for your confirmation on a few points regarding income support and earnings. Dealing with DWP and their decision-makers making wrong decisions and being adamant that it is correct makes one doubts ones facts so I am checking with the forum to be 200% sure as I was already 100% sure that DWP DM is wrong.
My understanding is that income from earning for an identifiable pay period should be assessed over the pay period that it covers (IS reg 29-2). So for example, if claimant commenced p/t employment on 12 Jan 08 and for the first time is paid X (after tax/ni) on Feb 28 (pay slip stating £z for Feb pay and stating £y back pay for Jan where z+y=x before tax/NI) covering pay period from 12 Jan to 28 Feb 2008 then the payment period should be 7 weeks and therefore income from wages should be X divided by 7. For some reason our local benefit processing centre insist that it is X divided by 4. Pls confirm.
Also, cl makes contribution to a private pension from her net earnings from work (after she is paid) and therefore 50% of this contribution should be disregarded (reg 36-3), but again DWP insist that given that she is paid already then the contribution she makes after receiving her pay does not count and cannot be disregarded by 50%, it'll only count/disregarded if deducted/paid from her earning by the employer from wage before employer pays cl. Reading the regulation it does not make such distinction it simply say to disregard "one half of any sum paid by the claimant in respect of a pay period by way of a contribution towards an occupational or personal pension scheme." Therefore my reading of it is that it makes no difference whatsoever whether she makes the contribution after being paid or the employer makes it on her behalf. But pls confirm.
Final point, which I am not 100% on and need your input on, is getting deductions from gross earning for expenses wholly, necessarily and exclusively incurred by claimant in order to carry out duties for her employment". Now cl is disabled and does most of her work from home the expenses I am thinking about are the cost of her phone/internet connection (less a proportion for private use) which is necessary for her to carry out her duties for employment. How about car expenses (needed to travel and meet clients related to her employment) though not for costs for travel to and from a place of work. Any inputs?
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