National Insurance Credits Eligibility.

Frustered

Hi Everyone.

As often the case, I haven't been able to find the info I require at the official website, so am posting here in the hope that someone could provide any clarification.

Would someone be eligible to receive NI Credits if they were working less than 16 hours per week and not claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or any other benefits?

In relation to National Insurance, is working 15 hours and 59 minutes classed as working less than 16 hours or is any rounding off done? If it is rounded off to 16, then how many minutes exactly would it be to be classed as under 16 hours?

On the National Insurance Credits Eligibility page of the Gov website, it states that you automatically get Class 1 NI Credits if "You’re on Jobseeker’s Allowance and not in education or working 16 hours or more a week".

Do they mean:

A)
if you’re on Jobseeker’s Allowance and not in education
or
Working 16 hours or more a week?

or do they mean:


If you’re on Jobseeker’s Allowance and not in education
or
If you’re on Jobseeker’s Allowance AND working 16 hours or more a week?

Thanks for any help.

HappyMJ

No rounding is done.

You can't be on JSA and be either in education (for 16 hours or more) or working 16 hours or more a week.

You can be on JSA if you are in education part time less than 16 hours and you can work for less than 16 hours. No rounding is done so 1 minute less than 16 hours is less than 16 hours.

It's a bit cryptic.

You don't get NI credits if you are not claiming benefits and not earning below the LEL (Lower earnings limit)...it doesn't matter how many hours you work.

If you are working for less than 16 hours and earning under the LEL you can sign on for JSA. You might not get any actual money but you will get NI credits.

Frustered

Hi HappyMJ.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Regarding JSA, yes, that makes sense; I understand what you have stated.

I thought I was quite sure that if you earned between the Lower Earning Limit (£112) and the Primary Threshold (£155), then you would get NI Credits. I have seen this info at various websites and they don't mention anything about needing to be on JSA. I thought the only thing I was unsure of was whether the number of hours affected this or not. Please note I am referring to NI Credits and not actual monetary contributions made.

If you are working for less than 16 hours and earning under the LEL you can sign on for JSA. You might not get any actual money but you will get NI credits.

I have never heard of anything like this before! I don't understand. Would you be kind enough to explain how this works, please?

Thanks again for your help.

nannytone_2

if you work less than 16 hours a week you can sign on for your NI credit.
you would still be expected to look for work and meet all the conditions of a JSA claim, including doing a job search daily and signing on wither weekly/fortnightly

you can always pay the NI credits yourself

HappyMJ

Frustered wrote: »

Hi HappyMJ.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Regarding JSA, yes, that makes sense; I understand what you have stated.

I thought I was quite sure that if you earned between the Lower Earning Limit (£112) and the Primary Threshold (£155), then you would get NI Credits. I have seen this info at various websites and they don't mention anything about needing to be on JSA. I thought the only thing I was unsure of was whether the number of hours affected this or not. Please note I am referring to NI Credits and not actual monetary contributions made.



I have never heard of anything like this before! I don't understand. Would you be kind enough to explain how this works, please?

Thanks again for your help.

The LEL is £112 a week. If you work 15 hours a week at £7 an hour you'll be earning £105 a week. Not enough to get NI credits. To get National Insurance credits you must sign on and look for work. You as a single person won't get any payment as you earn more than £78.10 a week. Your pay reduces your benefit to zero...but you are considered unemployed as you don't work more than 16 hours a week so can sign on and get NI credits.

If however you were working 15 hours at £7.50 an hour then you'll be earning £112.50 enough to be credited with NI contributions and no need to sign on even though you are still considered unemployed. You are considered part time if you work between 16 and under 30 hours and considered full time is 30 hours or more. Just labels really...most people would consider you part time if you did just one shift a week but JSA allows some work and still be classed as unemployed.

It's even more confusing if you are part of a couple and neither of you work. You'll both be credited with NI whilst unemployed and either partner can sign on for benefits as a single claim but may not get payment due to the earnings/capital of the other but can get NI credits. That's what my OH gets...she signs on as a single claim gets nothing but does get NI credits. I have too much capital in my own name to be entitled to any payment.

Frustered

Hi nannytone.

Thanks for your reply.

I do not wish to claim JSA, however, I clearly need to look into what HappyMJ has said about signing on but not receiving any money! Does that option mean that you would still have to be looking for work as well as all the other requirements of claiming JSA, such as not have a certain amount of savings, etc., or is it just so that you can be registered as unemployed?

That's what I have been doing. I have paid several thousands of pounds myself over the last few years in voluntary NI contributions! If what HappyMJ says is correct, I will have paid all that money when I didn't need to! I'm extremely angry at the moment that this information is kept so well hidden from everybody. I have done my own extensive research into whether I had to pay NICS and nowhere did I come across anything like that!

My situation isn't exactly a complicated one that wouldn't normally be covered by information provided at relevant government websites. It's a simple scenario, working less that 16 hours and not claiming JSA.

They have no problem writing hundreds of pages of policies but where are they when you need the policies explained? Off topic, as discussed in another thread, apparently, there is a rule where if a non-dependant adult who lives with pensioners has a change in circumstances, a deduction should not be made from the housing benefit for the first 26 weeks. My local council doesn't know that. I'd even written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and the Minister of State for Welfare Reform at the Department for Work and Pensions and received the same generic response which did not answer a single of my queries. So if they themselves aren't willing to explain their policies, who on Earth is supposed to know who's to pay (or not pay) what?

A while ago, I got an extra part-time job (temporary for four months) which took my hours to 16. I declared the change of circumstances to my local council and of course, as they are unaware of the 26 week rule (which I was also), my parents' housing benefit got reduced and I had to pay the extra £17 or so a week. If the council themselves are unaware of these little hidden rules, how is the general public going to know about them? I wonder how many people in similar situations are paying money when they shouldn't be. These payments can probably be claimed back.

HappyMJ, I suppose getting backdated NI credits or a refund of the thousands of pounds of unnecessary voluntary contributions paid is out of the question? Things aren't made any better by the fact that Voluntary NICS carry less benefits that Class 1.

Sorry for the rant, as mentioned above, I REALLY am angry at the moment.

Thanks.

HappyMJ

You will still have a job seekers agreement. It's a bit less strict than if you were in payment. The OH only has to do 2 actions per week to look for work although she came off ESA so that might have something to do with that. You can have any level of savings it doesn't matter...you're not getting any cash. You have to sign on every 2 weeks. You may be able to sign on by post if you can negotiate that.

You won't get backdated NI credits and you won't get a refund of voluntary NIC's paid.

You have to look for work...you can't just register for JSA in the hope of getting NI credits and not seriously look for more work to take you over 16 hours.

Many people set up a small business and pay self employed NIC's which are lower than voluntary NIC's. Sometimes paying self employed NIC's is cheaper than getting the bus to the job centre to sign on.

Frustered

Thanks HappyMJ.

Got it.