Sickness benefits

strawb_shortcake

My Husband hasn't worked for several years due to being a stay at home Dad and student. 

Due to ill health we are starting to realise that he probably won't be able to work, we have savings in excess of £16k. 

Him receiving a weekly sum isn't really needed but would be nice for him to have an independent income stream. More importantly is getting NI contributions, is there help for him? 

calcotti

Due to the savings he is not eligible for any means tested benefits.

If he has been claiming Child Benefit for a child after age 12 he will have got NI credits for that time.

If that doesn't apply he can apply for new style ESA. He will not be able to be paid anything can still go through the Work Capability Assessment. If found to have Limited Capability for Work he will get NI credits for this.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/

He can also look at Personal Independence Payment. If awarded based on the difficulties he has carrying out the specified activities he could receive payment. PIP does not have any NI credits attached.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/

strawb_shortcake

calcotti said:

Due to the savings he is not eligible for any means tested benefits.

If he has been claiming Child Benefit for a child after age 12 he will have got NI credits for that time.

If that doesn't apply he can apply for new style ESA. He will not be able to be paid anything can still go through the Work Capability Assessment. If found to have Limited Capability for Work he will get NI credits for this.

He can also look at Personal Independence Payment. If awarded based on the difficulties he has carrying out the specified activities he could receive payment. PIP does not have any NI credits attached.

Thank you, that's what I suspected with the benefits. We transferred all the CB to him a few years back. According to his gateway account he only had 8 years left to get the full award. 

We shall look into ESA and PIP, he was hoping it wouldn't come to this but here we are. 

NedS

Does he need more years to get a full state pension? If so, then as @calcotti says he can apply for ESA which will provide him with NI credits as long as he has a valid claim, even though he may not receive any monetary payment.

Still, having to purchase NI credits for missing years costs around £800/year, which whilst amazing value for money, is even better if you can get (some of) those years credited at no cost.

Just to reiterate, if he does need more years to achieve a full state pension, you should definitely consider using your cash savings to purchase those missing years once all other options have been exhausted.

strawb_shortcake

NedS said:

Does he need more years to get a full state pension? If so, then as @calcotti says he can apply for ESA which will provide him with NI credits as long as he has a valid claim, even though he may not receive any monetary payment.

Still, having to purchase NI credits for missing years costs around £800/year, which whilst amazing value for money, is even better if you can get (some of) those years credited at no cost.

Just to reiterate, if he does need more years to achieve a full state pension, you should definitely consider using your cash savings to purchase those missing years once all other options have been exhausted.

He needs another 8 years of contributions but has 23 years to retirement, he's not massively convinced he'll get there to be honest so he'll be reluctant to use our savings at the moment to top up. 

We'll look at the new style ESA and then the PIP. We are currently in hospital awaiting test results so we'll have a better idea of longer term prognosis and be able to build up evidence for PIP if needed. 

He never knows how he's going to be one day to the next, so committing to any work as he is now isn't much of an option 

strawb_shortcake

@calcotti just been looking at the new style esa, the child benefit was in my name and we transferred the ni credits to him, this was more than a year ago now as youngest has gone 13. I think this means he can't claim ESA at all? 

So his only option is PIP and look at voluntary contributions 

calcotti

annabanana82 said:

@calcotti just been looking at the new style esa, the child benefit was in my name and we transferred the ni credits to him, this was more than a year ago now as youngest has gone 13. I think this means he can't claim ESA at all? 

No, that’s not correct. The lack of NI contributions mean that he cannot be paid ESA but he can still claim in order to see if he can get NI credits if his health limits his ability to work. As per my previous post

calcotti said:

.. he can apply for new style ESA. He will not be able to be paid anything but can still go through the Work Capability Assessment. If found to have Limited Capability for Work he will get NI credits for this.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/

NedS

annabanana82 said:

NedS said:

Does he need more years to get a full state pension? If so, then as @calcotti says he can apply for ESA which will provide him with NI credits as long as he has a valid claim, even though he may not receive any monetary payment.

Still, having to purchase NI credits for missing years costs around £800/year, which whilst amazing value for money, is even better if you can get (some of) those years credited at no cost.

Just to reiterate, if he does need more years to achieve a full state pension, you should definitely consider using your cash savings to purchase those missing years once all other options have been exhausted.

He needs another 8 years of contributions but has 23 years to retirement, he's not massively convinced he'll get there to be honest so he'll be reluctant to use our savings at the moment to top up. 

Agreed, no rush right now as he has 23 years to fill those required 8 years so I wouldn't be paying for them just yet.

As you say, start building evidence to support a claim for ESA and/or PIP and see where that takes you.

Best of luck

strawb_shortcake

calcotti said:

annabanana82 said:

@calcotti just been looking at the new style esa, the child benefit was in my name and we transferred the ni credits to him, this was more than a year ago now as youngest has gone 13. I think this means he can't claim ESA at all? 

No, that’s not correct. The lack of NI contributions mean that he cannot be paid ESA but he can still claim in order to see if he can get NI credits if his health limits his ability to work. As per my previous post

calcotti said:

.. he can apply for new style ESA. He will not be able to be paid anything but can still go through the Work Capability Assessment. If found to have Limited Capability for Work he will get NI credits for this.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/

Thank you for clarification, it had been a long day

strawb_shortcake

NedS said:

annabanana82 said:

NedS said:

Does he need more years to get a full state pension? If so, then as @calcotti says he can apply for ESA which will provide him with NI credits as long as he has a valid claim, even though he may not receive any monetary payment.

Still, having to purchase NI credits for missing years costs around £800/year, which whilst amazing value for money, is even better if you can get (some of) those years credited at no cost.

Just to reiterate, if he does need more years to achieve a full state pension, you should definitely consider using your cash savings to purchase those missing years once all other options have been exhausted.

He needs another 8 years of contributions but has 23 years to retirement, he's not massively convinced he'll get there to be honest so he'll be reluctant to use our savings at the moment to top up. 

Agreed, no rush right now as he has 23 years to fill those required 8 years so I wouldn't be paying for them just yet.

As you say, start building evidence to support a claim for ESA and/or PIP and see where that takes you.

Best of luck

Thank you 

strawb_shortcake

So to drag this one back. 

My OH sat down last week and applied for ESA noting that it would be for NI credits only.

In addition he's also been applying for some part-time work.

Today, he received a phone call from DWP I guess? He got really confused having forgotten he'd applied for ESA, and told them he didn't know what they were talking about, phone call ended. He explained to me what had happened and I realised his mistake.

Will they call back? We've not had any emails from them so far.

I will be using this as an example for any ill-health claim 😔