Would I qualify for ESA? (Contribution Based)

HappyZen

Hello and wishing everyone well under the current circumstances.
 I am currently receiving CA as I care for someone in my household,  but I am thinking of stopping this and making a contribution based ESA for myself. My husband works so will not be entitled to income based. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and I also battle with my mental health.  However I have not been in paid employment since being signed off about ten years ago. I was unsuccessful in my ESA claim then, but I feel my condition has deteriorated since then and I did not have my mental health issues then either. I have been receiving class 1 contributions via carers allowance. However Gov uk says:

‘New style’ ESA

Most new claims are for ‘new style’ ESA.

To get ‘new style’ ESA you need to have both:

• worked as an employee or been self-employed
• paid enough National Insurance contributions, usually in the last 2 to 3 years - National Insurance Credits also count

I have some questions if anyone has any advice:
1) Does anyone know how long ago do I need to have worked?
2)Can I clam ESA and PIP (I am thinking of making a PIP claim also
3)If I am turned down can I go back to claiming Carers allowance?
4)I am in the shielding category, how will my assessment be carried out? I don't want a 12 week claim only, I am hoping to be assessed as needing the support group.
Thank you for reading.

p00hsticks

It may be worthwhile posting over on the Benefits board - there are a lot of benefits experts over there, and I'm not sure if they visit this area as much (but then neither do I, so I could be wrong!) .

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/benefits-tax-credits

Generally for benefits DWP will currently be looking back to tax years 2017-18 and 2018-19 to determine eligibility, so if you've not been employed or self-emplyed in either of those years I don't think you'll be eligible for contributions based ESA, but there's nothing to stop you claiming PIP. But I'm not an expert.

HappyZen

Thank you for your reply.
 I know PIP takes a long time to sort out, and I would want to cancel my carers allowance to make a PIP claim. I am concerned how I would manage without carers allowance until PIP awarded. I have posted over in the benefits forum as suggested. 

poppy12345

HappyZen said:

 I would want to cancel my carers allowance to make a PIP claim.

There's absoluately no reason why you can't claim carers allowance and PIP, lots of people do. As long as the reasons you're claiming carers allowance don't contradict the reasons why you're claiming PIP. I claim both of those and it's never been a problem.