Any advice would be appreciated.

irishboy

Hi There

Wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction.
My mum has recently applied for ESA but has been told that she cant get it as she hasnt paid enough NI contributions.

They sent her a statement which showed that she has a shortfall of £88 which ocurred between the 5th April 08 and 02 June 08.

Up until then she was receiving carers allowance after looking after my father. When he died she received bereavement allowance. The last payment of that was on the 19th May 2008. (which covered to 26th May)
She then was awarded incapacity benefit on the 02 June 08 and was on this for approx 3 months. After that she was on Job seekers allowance until she started work in February 2009.

Does this seem correct? How did she qualify for Incapacity benefit in June 08 but yet doesnt qualify for ESA now when there has been no further shortfall of Ni contributions?

If she repaid the shortfall of £88 will she then be eligible for benefits?

Many Thanks

[Deleted User]

if she doesnt qualify for esa cont.based due to these missing ni cont,then depending on a number of factors she may qualify for esa income based

Caz3121

I don't think paying the shortfall will make any difference but from Jan 12 they will use the tax years Apr09-10 and Apr10-11, currently they are using Apr08-09 and Apr09-10 but since she did not start work till Feb 09 she will have missed most of the first year (which won't be looked at come January)
Does she have a partner or savings, if not she should apply for income based ESA