§ Mr. RooneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what payments and expenses derived from part-time employment by jobseeker's allowance claimants are not treated as earnings by the Benefits Agency. [16764]
712W
§ Mr. Roger EvansThe information is as follows:
Employed earners
Income tax deducted; primary class 1 national insurance contributions deducted; one-half of any sum paid as a contribution towards an occupational or personal pension; payments in kind; payments (whether or not reimbursed by the employer) in respect of expenses wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of the duties of the employment (but not including travelling expenses incurred by the claimant between his home and place of work or expenses incurred under arrangements made for the care of a member of the claimant's family owing to his absence from home).Self-employed earners
An amount in respect of income tax; an amount in respect of class 2 and class 4 national insurance contributions; one-half of any sum paid as a contribution towards a personal pension; expenses wholly and exclusively defrayed for the purposes of the employment (but excluding capital expenditure, depreciation, sums employed or intended to be employed in the setting up or expansion of the business, loss incurred before the period over which the earnings are being assessed, capital repayments on loans taken out for the purposes of the business and business entertainment); excess of VAT paid over VAT received in the period over which the earnings are assessed; income expended in the repair of existing assets except to the extent that any sum is payable under an insurance policy for its repair and interst on loans taken out for the purposes of the business.Note:
Part-time employment for the purposes of jobseeker's allowance is work in which a person is engaged for less than 16 hours a week on average (24 hours in the case of partners of people receiving income-based jobseeker's allowance).