Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been assessed under the minimum earnings threshold to date.

Since March 2014, the Minimum Earnings Threshold has helped Jobcentre Plus and HMRC determine whether an EEA national undertaking work activity can be treated as a ‘worker’ or ‘self-employed’ person for the purposes of certain means-tested benefits and tax credits (including Jobseekers Allowance, Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit). The Minimum Earnings Threshold helps determine whether an individual’s work is (or has been) ‘genuine and effective’. In general the claimant has to show that they have been earning £153 per week (point at which employed earners have to start paying National Insurance Contributions) for 3 consecutive months. Where this threshold has not been met then decision-makers will consider the specific details of the case.

We do not collect specific information on the number of EEA national claimants who have been assessed against the Minimum Earnings Threshold, nor on the number of EEA nationals whose work has been found to not be ‘genuine and effective’ under that test.