Contribution based ESA

Confused277

Posting on behalf of my brother. He was my mums carer the past three years until she died last month. Prior to this he was a full time student.
He is currently unable to work and was advised not to sign on to jsa but to apply for esa. He has over the savings limit and his partner works so I don't think he will be entitled. There seems to be a bit of confusion as to whether being a carer (in receipt of carers allowance) would enable him to claim contributions based esa.
Although I know that you are given nation insurance credits I didn't think it counted towards claiming a contribution based benefit.
Does anyone know? He has applied but dwp helpline were unsure.

Alice_Holt

"Class 1 contributions are paid whilst in employment You have to pay Class 1 national insurance contributions if:
you are an employee under state pension age, and
you earn more than a certain amount each week. This is known as the primary threshold.

Class 1 national insurance contributions count towards contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, contributory Employment and Support Allowance, Bereavement Benefits, State Retirement Pension and Maternity Allowance.

National Insurance credits for parents and carers are Class 3 credits. Credits are added to your contribution record when you are unemployed or have limited capability for work, and in some other situations where you are not working for particular reasons.
Class 3 count towards bereavement benefits and State Pension."

He will not be able to be paid CB based ESa on the basis of Class 3 NI credits.

However it may still be worth applying for ESa. As although it will not be paid, he will continue to get Class 3 NI credits towards his SP.

pmlindyloo

Alice_Holt wrote: »

"Class 1 contributions are paid whilst in employment You have to pay Class 1 national insurance contributions if:
you are an employee under state pension age, and
you earn more than a certain amount each week. This is known as the primary threshold.

Class 1 national insurance contributions count towards contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, contributory Employment and Support Allowance, Bereavement Benefits, State Retirement Pension and Maternity Allowance.

National Insurance credits for parents and carers are Class 3 credits. Credits are added to your contribution record when you are unemployed or have limited capability for work, and in some other situations where you are not working for particular reasons.
Class 3 count towards bereavement benefits and State Pension."

He will not be able to be paid CB based ESa on the basis of Class 3 NI credits.

However it may still be worth applying for ESa. As although it will not be paid, he will continue to get Class 3 NI credits towards his SP.

If I may correct you, if he puts in a claim for ESA then he will be paid class 1 NI credits.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/benefits-introduction/national-insurance-contributions-and-benefits/#h-national-insurance-credits

The credits he has been receiving for claiming CA are class 3 NI credits which count towards state pension and some bereavement benefits.

These will not count towards contribution based ESA.

p00hsticks

pmlindyloo wrote: »

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If I may correct you, if he puts in a claim for ESA then he will be paid class 1 NI credits.

Even though the credits are Class 1, I don't beleive that will be enough to build an entitlement to contibution based benefits (ESA or JSA) as one of the qualification criteria is that you actually had to have paid enough class 1 NI contributions in one of the last two years - not just had them creditted.

pmlindyloo

p00hsticks wrote: »

Even though the credits are Class 1, I don't beleive that will be enough to build an entitlement to contibution based benefits (ESA or JSA) as one of the qualification criteria is that you actually had to have paid enough class 1 NI contributions in one of the last two years - not just had them creditted.

Absolutely.

Just wanted to correct the statement that if he has a NI credits only they would be class 1 not class 3.