what to do now

emjd

hi everyone this is my first post but as usual been on this site for years,

where to start?

feb of this year i went on the sick with a bad chest 2nd winter running this has happened) frequent trips to docs etc during this time mum also quite ill,

fastforward to june im still on sick leave from work(only getting ssp and have a zero hours contact at work) mum passes away and i end up in hospital with cellulitus in leg and a severe infection spent a month in hospital where i get another chest infection and leg gets reinfected and i get diagnosed with sleep apnea!!!

so i now get to sept and my 28 weeks on sick pay is up and my mums money comes tro which is above 16000 so i cant claim anything (had been claiming working tax and council benifts which ive now cancelled) because of leg and money i decide to leave job and ive signed up for a part time college course,

so heres my dilema/problem/what i need advice on

do i need a sick note for leg even tho im not working

who pay n.i.? hence above to give to job centre

do i need to go to job centre to sign on even tho i cant claim anything

many thanks

em

Savvy_Sue

I am sorry for your loss.

emjd wrote: »

because of leg and money i decide to leave job and ive signed up for a part time college course,

so heres my dilema/problem/what i need advice on

do i need a sick note for leg even tho im not working

If you're not claiming JSA then I don't think so, but ...

emjd wrote: »

who pay n.i.? hence above to give to job centre

You don't HAVE to pay NI. If you have periods when you aren't paying, they will write to you to invite you to make voluntary payments, but these don't 'count' for all purposes.

emjd wrote: »

do i need to go to job centre to sign on even tho i cant claim anything

You don't need to. I believe you can sign on even if you're not entitled to anything, and you would get your NI contributions paid if you did so. However, as with voluntary contributions I don't think these 'count' for all purposes, they're mostly useful for building your pension.

In your position, I'd be concentrating on getting well and back into work. Hopefully the college course with help with that. And they may have advisers who can give better advice than mine, as I'm not 100% sure ...

emjd

thanks for the reply

Uncertain

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

You don't need to. I believe you can sign on even if you're not entitled to anything, and you would get your NI contributions paid if you did so. However, as with voluntary contributions I don't think these 'count' for all purposes, they're mostly useful for building your pension.

As I understand it, NI credits paid by DWP DO count as full contributions meaning that, for example, you remain eligible for JSA / ESA if your circumstances change.

Voluntary contributions however only go towards your pension.

The OP may get a more definitive answer about this on the benefits board.