ESA and earnings from permitted work

Good morning

I have a couple on ESA. The claimant’s partner gets NI credits for being incapable of work (previously had IRESA with the support group but this stopped when she formed a couple with the claimant).

The partner is currently doing a small amount of work that would fall under the permitted work rules and would be disregarded in full, were she an ESA claimant, but it is currently being treated as an income (with a basic £20 disregard) for the ESA claim. So my question is, is there any provision that allows for her work to be treated as permitted work (and thus be disregarded as an income) in relation to the lead claimant’s ESA claim for them as a couple? Is there any provision that allows her to say ‘I get NI credits as a person who is incapable of work, so my earnings should be treated in the same way as for an ESA claimant’?

I suspect the answer is no, but if anyone has an opinion to the contrary I would be very grateful to hear it.

Many thanks

Alex