Told can't claim JSA as not enough NI contributions

crawli1

My Mum was made redundant last June (2010) and hasn't claimed any benefits at all as she was going away to China for 3 weeks for her 50th birthday and then fell ill.
Last week she contacted Job Centre Plus to put in a claim, but was told that she didn't have enough NI contributions for the tax year 2009/10. She worked for the whole of the 2009/10 tax year, although only part-time. Would this explain the shortfall of NI contributions and the reason why she cannot now claim JSA?

Thanks for any info.

emweaver

Its a !!!! take when u think people who have never worked in their life can claim JSA but someone who didnt work enough hours cant

crawli1

emweaver wrote: »

Its a !!!! take when u think people who have never worked in their life can claim JSA but someone who didnt work enough hours cant

Tell me about it. My Mum has never claimed benefits in her life, worked full-time and part-time roles over the years. Never asked for anything until now. Even when she was made redundant we couldn't talk her into making contact with the benefits office. Now she needs it, as she is actively job-seeking, she can't get it :mad::mad:

McKneff

It depends on how many hours 'part time' was. If she earned under a certain amount then she wouldnt pay NI contributions.
I think its round about £100 a week. This is the only explanation I can think of.

MrsManda

She should contact the HMRC and ask for a National Insurance Statement of Account which will state her contributions for the last couple of years. It's worth checking that the National Insurance contributions she thinks she's paid (will say on her payslips) have been credited to her HMRC record.

You can get a statement of account by contacting the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) National Insurance Enquiries for Individuals Helpline on 0845 302 1479 (textphone 0845 915 3296). The helpline is open from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday except bank holidays.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/BeginnersGuideToTax/NationalInsurance/IntroductiontoNationalInsurance/DG_190052

If she's not eligible for JSA(C) then if she had less than £16,000 in savings she's likely to be get JSA Income Based. She should still sign on as she'll get her National insurance contributions paid for her which will go towards her state pension and future benefits

McKneff

emweaver wrote: »

Its a !!!! take when u think people who have never worked in their life can claim JSA but someone who didnt work enough hours cant

Its because they meet the criteria, they get NI credits whilst on benefits,

People who dont meet the criteria dont get it, its really as simple as that.

Sames as state pensions, if you dont have 30 years of contributions then it affects your state pension, up to April of last year you had to have 39 years, I only had 20 so only got half my state pension,
again, Ididnt meet the criteria and I have worked all my life, still working at 61 to supplement it.

We are all just numbers.

crawli1

McKneff wrote: »

It depends on how many hours 'part time' was. If she earned under a certain amount then she wouldnt pay NI contributions.
I think its round about £100 a week. This is the only explanation I can think of.

Not sure about what wage she was on, but she did 25 hours per week on nights, so got a supplement to her wage for that too.

I'm sorry I don't have any further information.

crawli1

MrsManda wrote: »

She should contact the HMRC and ask for a National Insurance Statement of Account which will state her contributions for the last couple of years. It's worth checking that the National Insurance contributions she thinks she's paid (will say on her payslips) have been credited to her HMRC record.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/BeginnersGuideToTax/NationalInsurance/IntroductiontoNationalInsurance/DG_190052

If she's not eligible for JSA(C) then if she had less than £16,000 in savings she's likely to be get JSA Income Based. She should still sign on as she'll get her National insurance contributions paid for her which will go towards her state pension and future benefits

Thanks for this - I'll try and get her to ring HMRC to get a statement. When she was first made redundant, my family were telling her to sign on anyway to get her NI contributions, but she didn't want to at the time. Hopefully, if she gets the right information from me off here and JCP, it will help her to sort it out properly, so thanks again for everyone's help.

sunnyone

McKneff wrote: »

Its because they meet the criteria, they get NI credits whilst on benefits,

People who dont meet the criteria dont get it, its really as simple as that.

wrong, people who have never worked get income based JSA, if you dont work the NI credit only goes towards the SRP and nothing else.

If you dont meet the requirments you get nothing full stop, she mustnt be entitled to income based JSA and she hasnt paid enough NI for contributions based.

sunnyone

crawli1 wrote: »

Not sure about what wage she was on, but she did 25 hours per week on nights, so got a supplement to her wage for that too.

I'm sorry I don't have any further information.

If she did 25 hours per week even at minimum wage she would be paying NI.

MrsManda

crawli1 wrote: »

Not sure about what wage she was on, but she did 25 hours per week on nights, so got a supplement to her wage for that too.
I'm sorry I don't have any further information.

Even at minimum wage (£5.80), 25 hours a week should mean that she paid N.I. contributions as she would have earned more than £110 a week. She needs to contact the HMRC and make sure that all her National insurance contributions have been credited.