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?

Last point: if client is employed then the costs of travelling to the normal place of work are not allowable. However, the costs of travelling between places of work should be. Make sure however that she is not paid anything as part of her wages for these expenses - they would be disregarded as income but you obviously can't double count.

The private pension point is garbage. People have the right to pay into a pension scheme if their employer doesn't offer one, and by definition they must do so from their take-home pay!

Thanks for the only response , a very poor harvest so far, pls open the floodgates of your expertise. On the point raised about "However, the costs of traveling between places of work should be. Make sure however that she is not paid anything as part of her wages for these expenses", based on my reading of R(IS)/16/93 even if cl is paid mileage petrol expense from employer for such travel, such payment does not cover total costs associated with running a car and therefore cl could still apportion car expense for employment use.
Pls someone confirm the point one regarding the pay period as I can't find anything to show that DWP DM is correct and my reading/understanding of the regulation is wrong!

Sorry - this doesn't really answer you, but my conclusion reading your point 1 was that the correct figure is so mind blowingly obvious that I couldn't see how a DM could possibly rationally come to the decision that seems to have been reached.

Surely the payslip makes it clear it is for 7 weeks wages? If it doesn't, then presumably the employer would happily confirm the position in writing.

I agree, and reg 29 needs to be read with reg 31. A payment of 7 weeks earnings should be taken into account for a period of 7 weeks beginning from the date on which it is due to be paid or from the first benefit week in which it is practicable to take it into account. I suspect that the Department’s actions are being dictated more by the rigidity of its admin systems rather than proper reading of the law.