ESA and NIC contributions

bigfatfrog

How do I tell if I've paid enough NI to claim? I've found out I need to have ....

paid at least 26 weeks class 1 or class 2 National Insurance (NI) contributions in one of the last 2 complete tax years and have been paid or credited with NI contributions for at least 50 weeks in each of the last 2 complete tax years

but I'm not sure what that means. I was employed and I paid £680 in the year ending 2014 and £874 in the year ending 2015. Is that enough to make a claim?

Thanks.

sportsarb

The amounts you give are nowhere near enough. Do you have P60's? What you are looking for is earnings at the lower earnings level or LEL. These need to be close to 6k in the relevant years.

bigfatfrog

Thanks for the quick reply - this is what I'm confused about.

Those were the amounts of NIC (I think class 1) that I have paid. Do it mean I have to have earned 26 x LEL ie £2886 or paid that amount in NIC? If I need to have paid that much NI then I'm miles away:(