ESA 12 months up, what now?

epitome

Important to note...The above assumes continuous entitlement to NI credits. SCC requires full 50 credits NI credits per tax year.

In the ESA gap the ESA stays open and continues to credit NI credits. But if ESA is ever closed. The NI credits will stop from the close date...sometimes ESA is closed retrospectively by quite a few weeks 2 - 6 weeks. This can then cause you problems to keep your NI credits continuous. Different ways this can be done...or attempted

You could claim CA continuously as an underlying entitlement CA would credit NI so you would have no gaps in NI credits.

You could try to back date a CA claim when you find out ESA has been closed retrospectively. I don't know the rules on backdating CA. But CA only starts on a Monday, so you may have to back date to the Monday before ESA closed.

You could try claiming ESA again backdated to the date they closed it from... This would require a new or worsened condition.

You could try to get your ESA reopened, depending why it was closed ...

You could try claiming JSA Conts / JSA Conts New Style backdated to the date ESA closed...to do this you should claim JSA immediately you find out that ESA has been closed, becuase AFAIK there is DWP guidance that says in these circumstances a JSA claim can be backdated in the event of a retrospective decision from ESA as long as JSA is claimed quickly.

susieb

Thanks.
Would claiming carer credits, eg the 20 hour requirement rather than 35 hours which i just cant do, protect NI? and count towards state pension? I am four years short of full state pension

epitome

I didn't know you could claim CA on 20 hours. AFAIK it has to be 35 hours.

WillowCat

epitome wrote: »

I didn't know you could claim CA on 20 hours. AFAIK it has to be 35 hours.

It's not carers allowance, it's carers credit. Not money, but your class 3 national insurance is credited.

https://www.gov.uk/carers-credit

epitome

WillowCat wrote: »

It's not carers allowance, it's carers credit. Not money, but your class 3 national insurance is credited.

https://www.gov.uk/carers-credit

In which case I would suspect it would be sufficient to satisfy SCC but would not be enough to have the FCC relaxed.

I will try to confirm

susieb

Yes I assume it needs to be class 3. I'll have to see how it goes as certainly cant care 35 hours a week, fingers crossed I am put in support group which would be the correct outcome for me, but I know incredibly hard to get