contribution based esa ni criteria

BASILB

I have a claim for esa and have my appointment on Monday. I'm concerned i won't be eligible due to a gap in employment. During the last 2 tax years i paid the following national insurance

2017-18 £273.10 I was employed from April to June then December to March.

2018-19 £805 Employed for the full tax year

Prior to that i was employed for 11 years but it says it will only count the last 2 tax years.

I am currently unemployed and have a mental health illness. I have a 13 week fit note to hand in but i am now concerned i don't qualify due to ni contributions.

I also wouldn't qualify for income based esa as i live with my girlfriend who earns and works over the amount to qualify.

If anyone can tell me if i will qualify for contribution based esa or not please let me know. I will go to my appointment regardless but i am very anxious wondering if i will or not.

Caz3121

the two tax years that will be used to assess your entitlement is 2016-17 and 2017-18 (2018-19 will be used for claims made after beginning January 2020)

calcotti

As Caz3121 says the relevant years are 2016-2017 and 2017-18. From your opening post the 2016-2017 year is presumably OK but the 2017-2018 year is in question.

Although you had a period not in work you may still qualify depending on your level of earnings - but I have never understood how the rules around this work.

You can check your NI record by contacting HMRC. If you have an online HMRC account you can see your NI record there or you can ring them on 0300 200 3500
https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

(Note - income based ESA no longer exists, it has been replaced by Universal Credit. I assume it is 'new style' ESA you have applied for.)

EDIT: I've now looked at the rules again.
First condition - you must have paid, or be treated as having paid, NI contributions for at least 26 weeks in one of the years considered. You appear to meet this condition in both years.
Second condition - You must have paid or been credited with NU on earnings at least 50 times the lower earnings limit in both years. For 2017-2018 I think you will qualify if your earnings were over £5,650 (but I may be wrong on this last bit!)

BASILB

Thank you for your replies. For 2016/17 i would have paid £1800 ni and would have earned £25000 however for 2017/18 the year in issue i earned £4900 and paid £273 ni. On the government website i checked my ni contributions and for 2017/18 it says year is not full so i'm guessing by that i will not qualify. I've paid over £20k in national insurance over the last 12 years but because of 1 recent gap i think i won't get esa.

It says on the government site i can pay £128 to bring my ni contribution to full for 2017/18. If i did this would i then qualify for esa?

calcotti

BASILB wrote: »

It says on the government site i can pay £128 to bring my ni contribution to full for 2017/18. If i did this would i then qualify for esa?

Voluntary Class 3 contributions will not qualify you for ESA (but will make the year count towards the 35 years you need for a full State Pension). If you are self employed and can pay Class 2 contributions they would qualify you but there would be a delay before you can get ESA after you are treated as having paid them (from memory this is 6 weeks - I am unable to check that at the moment).

BASILB

Ok thank you. As i didn't earn 50 times the lower earning threshold for 2017/18 will that mean i definitely will not qualify or is there any way i still could?

If not is there anything else i could get?Anything that counts household income i will not qualify for.

calcotti

BASILB wrote: »

If not is there anything else i could get?Anything that counts household income i will not qualify for.

Depending on how your health condition affects you, you could look at PIP. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/


Everything else is means tested.