30. Can people on Incapacity Benefit volunteer?

There is a lot of confusion over Incapacity Benefit because there used to be a rule that individuals in receipt of the benefit could only volunteer for 16 hours a week. This rule no longer applies although many people are still being told that it does. If you are in receipt of Incapacity Benefit then you can volunteer as much as you want. People often worry that starting to volunteer will automatically trigger an investigation into their need to claim Incapacity Benefit, this is not true and reassessment because an individual has started to volunteer very rarely happens. Sometimes there is some confusion about volunteering and Permitted Work (which can have hour limits), this relates only to paid work so should not affect volunteers. Disability Living Allowance is an allowance paid in acknowledgement of the fact that life for someone with a disability may be more expensive i.e. someone with mobility problems may be reliant on taxis. Volunteering will not affect whether an individual gets it or not.

See for example booklet WK1, Financial help if you work or looking for work: www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/pdfs/pflwk1v3.pdf