Any help or advice gratefully received

Bluebird44

Hello, I wonder if anybody on here has had a similar problem that we have encountered.

My wife had to give up her job 5 year ago on medical grounds. She had been with her employer for over 30 years, and fortunately they have a “permanent” health insurance policy in place to help pay medically discharged staff 50% of their salary, the term permanent health insurance is a bit misleading as it lasts for 5 years. We were of course grateful for the income from this policy and realise we were in a better situation than some, although both our salaries were modest.

The problem is now my wife has no entitlement to any work-related benefit such as JSA, as she has not paid NI contributions over the last 2 years, (something we were unaware of) but had previously paid full contributions for 35 years.

Because of her medical history my wife qualifies for PIP, but it seems incredibly unfair that she cannot get JSA or Universal credit.

We have thought about getting a loan to pay the last 2 years contributions, but there is no guarantee that this will enable her to receive benefits.

Has anyone else had any similar problems, any help would be gratefully received. Thanks

calcotti

Bluebird44 said: We have thought about getting a loan to pay the last 2 years contributions, but there is no guarantee that this will enable her to receive benefits.

Paying voluntary Class 3 contributions will not help with entitlement to contribution based benefits.

She is eligible for UC but any entitlement would depend on your joint circumstances.

if she getting PIP at the moment? Are you still working?

Bluebird44

Thank you, yes I am still working, which I think rules out UC. And yes she is getting PIP at the moment. 

calcotti

Bluebird44 said:

Thank you, yes I am still working, which I think rules out UC. And yes she is getting PIP at the moment. 

It depends how much you are earning. If you applied for UC there would be a couple allowance, a cater element (if the PIP includes Daily Living) and if your wife had a Work Capability Assessment and was found to have Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity there would also be a LCWRA element. These would come to £1095/month as a maximum amount. if you are not renting, the first £512 of your earnings would be ignored and 63% of the excess deducted.  If you rent there would also be help with rent but only the first £292 of your earnings would be ignored.

poppy12345

Use a benefits calculator to check entitlement to UC https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/Intro/Home?cid=671df6b5-b993-44ed-be7f-c44bbbc0eec6

Bluebird44

Thank you for your help, much appreciated 👍