Not entitled to any benefits...but still have to sign on?

msnigella

Hi everyone

My uncle is 56 and was made redundant in 2008. He received a good payout and the company pay him a pension of £501 per month.

He lived off his payout until there was no money left. He contacted his local jobcentre to see if he was able to apply for any benefits and was told he was not entitled to anything as he has not paid national insurance for the last 3 years.

He accepts that he is not entitled to anything but is upset that he must now sign on weekly at the jobcentre despite not getting any benefits. He was told if he does not sign on weekly he will not get a state pension when he reaches retirement age.

Just wanted to check if this is correct? He has worked continuously for over 30 years (on a good wage) before being made redundant.

His wife earns approx £9k per annum. Outgoings are mortgage and usual bills.

msnigella

To clarify, my question is not is he entitled to anything but does he really have to sign on every week despite not getting any benefits?

pmlindyloo

The number of qualifying years needed is 30 for men.

See here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/BeginnersGuideToTax/NationalInsurance/Voluntarycontributionsandtoppingup/DG_190077

Just to make sure that he has the qualifying number you can telephone the department in the link to check.

HappyMJ

He also has the option of making voluntary contributions so that he does not have to sign on. Voluntary contibutions are £13.25 per week.

Another option is to set up a small business trading even just a few hours a week and pay Class 2 contributions at £2.65 a week.

Pollycat

I took early retirement nearly 9 years ago aged 50 with 33 years worth of NI contributions.

At that time, I think a woman needed 42 years of contributions (I may be wrong on that number).

I wouldn't have got any benefits as my occupational pension was too high.
I had the option of signing on to get additional contributions but decided not to and instead to pay for any additional NI conts as necessary.
I was not looking for work and didn't want to be put in the position of having to apply for jobs I didn't want.

Luckily for me, the govt have since lowered the number of years required for full pension to 30 years.

I thought you only had to 'sign on' once a fortnight? I might be wrong about that.

If your uncle has 30 qualifying years (and that's not the same as years worked), he shouldn't have to sign on - weekly or fortnightly - if he doesn't want to.

He needs a state pension forecast - he can get it online:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/StatePension/StatePensionforecast/DG_10014008

Are you sure your uncle is giving you the right details?
Could he have misunderstood what the advisor was telling him?

msnigella

Thanks, your replies have all been really helpful.

He's definitely giving me the right info - or 'right' as far as he's been told by the advisors at the jobcentre. He originally was told to sign on fortnightly, but after a month or so they changed this to weekly with no explanation.

pmlindyloo

I would suggest that your uncle puts his and his wife's details into the benefit calculator on www.turn2us.org.uk.

If his wife works 30 hours a week they may be entitled to some working tax credit and, maybe, also to some Council Tax Benefit.

Dunroamin

Pollycat wrote: »

If your uncle has 30 qualifying years (and that's not the same as years worked), he shouldn't have to sign on - weekly or fortnightly - if he doesn't want to.

I think that this is the crucial part of the situation. If he didn't pay NICs for the last 3 years, perhaps he didn't pay them for other period? (BTW, why didn't he pay them for those 3 years?)

If he's short of NICs then he isn't signing on for nothing, he's signing on for NI credits.

Pollycat

Dunroamin wrote: »

I think that this is the crucial part of the situation. If he didn't pay NICs for the last 3 years, perhaps he didn't pay them for other period? (BTW, why didn't he pay them for those 3 years?)

If he's short of NICs then he isn't signing on for nothing, he's signing on for NI credits.

I think it was because he wasn't working.

He was made redundant in 2008.

msnigella

Yes, he didn't pay them because he wasn't working. He was living off his redundancy money rather than claiming benefits. This has been his only period out of work since shortly after leaving school.

Saversue

Same thing has happened to my friend's husband, who hasn't been able to get a job for many years.
His wife worked, so he wasn't entitled to any benefits in his own right, also not entilted to any form of income support, but made to sign on every two weeks to get NI cotributions.
His wife has now retired, but he still isn't entitled to a bean and she has to give him "Pocket Money" out of her pension. He is quite a bit younger than her and has many years to go before he will get his State Pension