Modification of relevant benefit year for claiming cb esa

Claire1985smiley

Hi are there any advisors or someone who can explain to me how the modification of relevant benefit year works for claiming contribution based esa?

calcotti

A claim made now will, by default, be based on the tax years 2017-18 and 2018-19. Apart from needed a full NI record of contributions and/or credits for the two years you must in one of the years have actually paid (or be treated as having paid) NI contributions for 26 weeks. You can be treated as having paid NI if you earned over the Lower Earnings Limit Although you don’t actually pay anything unless you earn overt the Primary Threshold.

For carers there is a modification which means that any year of a claimant’s life can be looked at to meet the actually paid 26 weeks requirement. To qualify for this modification the claimant would have to have been in receipt of Carer’s Allowance in at least one week of the 2017-18 or 2018-19 tax years.

There are also similar variations for people classified as disabled workers under Tax a Credits, spouses/partners of members of HM armed forces who were overseas and for people in prison who had their conviction or offence quashed.

Just to add, for new claims contribution based ESA is now know as new style ESA.

Claire1985smiley

I am my partner's appointee he had been getting esa + dla since 2004 but was moved to the esa work related group and affected by the 365 day time limiting so the esa finished in November 2016. He wasn't entitled to income based due to me and it was left as a credits only claim. We weren't entitled to any other financial help as my wage is just above the threshold.

Esa sent assesment form out early 2018 and when I phoned they said it was necessary to fill in so he could resatisfy conditions to keep having the credits only paid.

I secured a job trial for him in may 2018 and he was subsequently then offered full time job. 

Esa then sent another form for me to fill in and I got an award letter to say he was placed back in the support group. We discussed this and decided to keep the job he had secured and I stopped the claim for esa. 

It lasted just over 6months at full time working before he became too ill again with the depression/anxiety side effects.

I reclaimed his esa 22nd April 2019 and they are like you have said using tax year 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. If they were able to use the 2018/2019 he then satisfys the 1st contribution 

Claire1985smiley

The job we secured for him was with a company who specialise in recruiting people with disabilities in particularly Asperger's 

calcotti

Claire1985smiley said:

I reclaimed his esa 22nd April 2019 and they are like you have said using tax year 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. If they were able to use the 2018/2019 he then satisfys the 1st contribution 

If you claim again now they will look at the years 2017-18 and 2018-19. Will he then satisfy both conditions? If he would you should be able to request three months backdating.

if this will work you need to get this done before the end of the year. Once we go into 2021 the years looked at will be 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Claire1985smiley

Yes I counted up and he has more than 26weeks full employment and class 1 credits for 2018-2019. Do I need to cancel the current credits only claim before doing this?

In your 1st reply you can be treated as having paid no contributions for 26 weeks? He got class 1 credits for both years and was working in 2017/2018 but very limited hours he has earned over the lel for the total year but individual weeks have not met the lel for weekly pay

Claire1985smiley

Seems very cruel like he has been punished for trying to work and we arent entitled to claim UC 

calcotti

Claire1985smiley said:

Yes I counted up and he has more than 26weeks full employment and class 1 credits for 2018-2019. Do I need to cancel the current credits only claim before doing this?

I don’t think so.

Claire1985smiley said: In your 1st reply you can be treated as having paid no contributions for 26 weeks? He got class 1 credits for both years and was working in 2017/2018 but very limited hours he has earned over the lel for the total year but individual weeks have not met the lel for weekly pay

NI credits are earned on a weekly or monthly basis based on the payment cycle. Being over the LEL for the whole year may not result in a full year. You can contact HMRC to ask about the record https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record. Alternatively you can just apply and wait for a decision. 

Claire1985smiley

This was for the claim I made in 2019 the 2 tax years used had full cr1 credits and shows he worked for more than 26 weeks in 2017/18 but the weekly employment never made more than £85 I'm assuming it would have to have been 26 weeks at £113

calcotti

Claire1985smiley said:

This was for the claim I made in 2019 the 2 tax years used had full cr1 credits and shows he worked for more than 26 weeks in 2017/18 but the weekly employment never made more than £85 I'm assuming it would have to have been 26 weeks at £113

Yes, to have been treated as having paid NI contributions he would need 26 weeks earning over £113/week in 2017/18.
i take it the years are full in respect of credits due to having a Limited Capability for Work?

Claire1985smiley

Yeah it was class 1 credits from esa