Denied Cont ESA because of insufficient NI?

Brighty

dippy3103 wrote: »

Could be worth applying for CTC on your new income.

Unfortunately still not entitled to anything.
Apparantly though, we stand a good chance of getting Dla for our son, if we get that then wife can get carers allowance and we may also get some Ctc then. Won't know for a few months though.
Brighty

nannytone_2

he would need a minimum award of middle rate care for your wife to be able to claim carers allowance.
DLA is increasingly difficult to get any award at all

bloolagoon

nannytone wrote: »

he would need a minimum award of middle rate care for your wife to be able to claim carers allowance.
DLA is increasingly difficult to get any award at all

I personally see childrens DLA getting easier. Personal knowledge only but far less refusals than 2 years ago. Adults maybe not with PIP etc but overall chikdren yes, but then this is MH and not physical and the govt seems to be now recognising that child MH needs are needing addressing.

chrisbur

As I understand it National insurance credits are available for SMP but they have to be applied for.

From https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

"You’re on Statutory Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Pay, or Additional Statutory Paternity Pay, and you don’t earn enough to make a qualifying year Apply for Class 1 credits. Write to: HMRC, National Insurance Contributions and Employers Office, Benton Park View, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE98 1ZZ. Include your National Insurance number and say when the credits are for and why you’re eligible"

Don't know if you did this or not; but might be worth looking into if not, to see if it can be done now.

Brighty

chrisbur wrote: »

As I understand it National insurance credits are available for SMP but they have to be applied for.

From https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

"You’re on Statutory Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Pay, or Additional Statutory Paternity Pay, and you don’t earn enough to make a qualifying year Apply for Class 1 credits. Write to: HMRC, National Insurance Contributions and Employers Office, Benton Park View, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE98 1ZZ. Include your National Insurance number and say when the credits are for and why you’re eligible"

Don't know if you did this or not; but might be worth looking into if not, to see if it can be done now.

That's interesting, thanks. Just rang NI and they said they can go though what credits are missing over the phone with me, just need her there to go though security, so i'll do that tonight. Once I get her NI record correct i'll get on to the jobcentre and get them to look at it again
Cheers
Brighty

Poppie68

If she qualifies for NI credits with her smp it's still doesn't look likely that it will be enough for ESA, but it will help towards her pension in the future..

sheramber

If you have children why is your wife not getting NI credits through child benefit?

Poppie68

sheramber wrote: »

If you have children why is your wife not getting NI credits through child benefit?[/QUOTE


If she is eligible for CB she will only be getting Class 3 ni contact.....Class1 & 2 are Needed for ESA.

TattyG

I am not sure that topping up your NI Contributions will ensure you can claim ESA. Just reading this article - http://www.money.co.uk/article/1006500-should-i-make-up-my-national-insurance-contributions.htm and it states " However, only your state pension allowance and entitlement to bereavement benefits are impacted when you top up; your entitlement to other benefits won't change."

Before you spend a lot topping them up, I would just double check this would allow you access to ESA as I think it will only count towards pension and the CB NI Credits should cover this (provided it is in wife's name and not yours) x

**edit** Just noticed she was on MA so above might not be relevant to you! will leave it in though in case it helps someone else x

Brighty

Phoned them (HMRC NI Dept) last night and it was a very frustrating and confusing call.

The bloke I spoke to didn't seem to have a clue what I was trying to do, he just kept repeating over and over that there were no gaps in her NI for state pension (there wouldn't be as she's been getting class 3 child benefit credits since 2010)

In the end I managed to get out of him that according to them she earned over £4k in 2013-14 but only payed about £3 NI.
In 2012-13 they have her as earning around £2.5k but paying £26 NI, which really confused him (more NI on less money).


What confuses me is that in the 2012-13 tax year, my wife worked 2 shifts every 6 days up until about July (that's probably about the £2.5k they have on file) then went on SMP for the rest of the year, which would be over another £5k more in income.

I mentioned to him about class 1 SMP credits and whether they were showing, he didn't know, I mentioned about the HMRC website saying they were not applied automatically, he said that sounded odd, never heard of it, where did I read it.

He suggested I do as the website says, write to them to get smp credits added.

So I've requested exact smp dates from her employer, as our memory's of when she finished work, how much was holiday, when smp would have started, is all very hazy as that was a crazy year with my mum passing away suddenly in the May, then my dad 2 months later just 2 weeks before baby came.

He then said we would need copies of both years P60's and all payslips (should be fun finding or getting new copies of all those) and take them to the jobcentre, they would sort it all out and contact HMRC NI if necessary.

What a palaver. Think even if we sort out the 12-13 year, she may still be short for 13-14, though her smp may have gone over into that year enough to squeak through, maybe.

Don't make this stuff easy do they


Brighty