Pension credit, esa and ni credits

Money_advisor

My partner claims ESA (ir) for me. He gets DLA High rate care and I get carers allowance for him. My ni stamp is covered through the carers and his is covered thru his ESA. In July I become pension credit age. Can my partner chose to claim ESA (c) only and keep getting his ni stamp credited and allow me to claim pension credit guarantee credit myself for him as well. If not how would his NI stamp be covered. He is only 55 years old. I believe we will be financially better off under pension credit as well. Any advice please?

benniebert

Money_advisor wrote: »

My partner claims ESA (ir) for me. He gets DLA High rate care and I get carers allowance for him. My ni stamp is covered through the carers and his is covered thru his ESA. In July I become pension credit age. Can my partner chose to claim ESA (c) only and keep getting his ni stamp credited and allow me to claim pension credit guarantee credit myself for him as well. If not how would his NI stamp be covered. He is only 55 years old. I believe we will be financially better off under pension credit as well. Any advice please?

How do you mean - you will be better off with Pension Credit? Do you mean that it will be easier and less hassle to claim Pension Credit over ESA or is it that there is a financial advantage in the way of more benefit money?


Have you tried any of the online calculators?

cloudydays

Money_advisor wrote: »

My partner claims ESA (ir) for me. He gets DLA High rate care and I get carers allowance for him. My ni stamp is covered through the carers and his is covered thru his ESA. In July I become pension credit age. Can my partner chose to claim ESA (c) only and keep getting his ni stamp credited and allow me to claim pension credit guarantee credit myself for him as well. If not how would his NI stamp be covered. He is only 55 years old. I believe we will be financially better off under pension credit as well. Any advice please?

I don't think you would be penalised for closing the ESA claim in favour of pension credit, but as far as I know your husband wouldn't get his NI stamp covered. When you start claiming your state pension you will no longer be entitled to the carer's allowance payment but a carers premium would be added to the pension credit claim.

Another option would be for you to defer your state pension and carry on as you are, that is until they change the pension credit rules once Universal Credit is rolled out when both partners will have to be state pension age.

It would be less hassle to claim pension credit and there are other perks, it’s a passport to other benefits, and no more ESA assessments to worry about.

Londonsu

Not sure about ESA but year before last when both me and hubby were out of work, once our cont based jsa finished my hubby could have claimed pension credit which would have covered both of us.


However that would have meant that I could not have been able to access certain things if we has chosen PC.


My NIC would not have been paid (although as I had already worked for 43 years at that point I had already accrued enough NIC for my pension) and I would not have been entitled to free dental care/prescriptions


Actually in hindsight as I already got free prescriptions for a medical condition it really wasn't worth the hassle of signing on for the possibility of getting me teeth checked for free. so I don't really know why I bothered TBH


From what I believe the new pension rules coming into force in April 2016 means that person will only have to pay NIC for 10 years to get the new state pension and not the 30 years currently required so a 55 year old MIGHT get their pension under the new rules but you need to go onto the pensions website to check

Weary_soul

Actually If I'm reading this right to get the new pension you'll need 35 years.

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/how-its-calculated

cloudydays

Thanks for the link Weary soul, yes Money advisor your husband will need to consider his state pension if you choose to opt for pension credit this year.

He'll usually need at least 10 qualifying years on his National Insurance record to get any State Pension and he'll need 35 qualifying years to get the full new State Pension.

Money_advisor

Can he just choose to be esa (c) only then to cover ni credits? Thanks for info

Money_advisor

How do you mean - you will be better off with Pension Credit? Do you mean that it will be easier and less hassle to claim Pension Credit over ESA or is it that there is a financial advantage in the way of more benefit.

As I understand a couple on PCgc get £230 per week but esa only £114!

lld01

Money_advisor wrote: »

How do you mean - you will be better off with Pension Credit? Do you mean that it will be easier and less hassle to claim Pension Credit over ESA or is it that there is a financial advantage in the way of more benefit.

As I understand a couple on PCgc get £230 per week but esa only £114!

You will almost certainly be better off claiming PC. But don't forget that the amount of your state pension (plus any other income) is included within that £230.

Your partner won't get any NI credits but if they already have 30 years that won't make any difference.

Money_advisor

I'm pension credit age in July not state pension age - that's another 2 years off ! No other income

cloudydays

Money_advisor wrote: »

I'm pension credit age in July not state pension age - that's another 2 years off ! No other income

If your date of birth is between 6th November 1952 - 5th December1952 you can phone and claim your state pension now and you will reach State Pension / pension credit age on 6th July 2015.