national insurance contributions

alanswinney

I have just done a pension forecast and I have five years of missing payments as I was on JSA for 1 week during 2016 and then transferred onto my partners ESA claim right through to Jan this year when my partner became a pensioner herself I have tried to have this issue dealt with through a lot of the GOV. agencies but are getting nowhere and being passed from piller to post the jobcentre who was running our claims say it should be down to the ESA agency but cannot get through to them by phone anyone else have had this issue

p00hsticks

There is a longstanding issue which DWP are aware of and apparently attempting to address of HMRC not being notified of entitlement to NI credits via benefits.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-11513199/DWP-HMRC-come-clean-missing-state-pension-credits.html

However, I'm not 100% sure if this is the reason why in your case you are not being creditted. I may be wrong, but I think that for joint UC claims only one of the claimants is awarded credits, I'm not sure if the same applies to joint ESA claims ? I know some people more knowledgeable on the various benefits systems than me frequent this board, so hopefully they will be along soon and able to confirm or deny if you should have been receiving credits or not.

Marcon

If nobody here can help, perhaps try https://www.turn2us.org.uk in respect of joint claims and NI credits?

NedS

I'm not an expert on ESA, but my understanding is that you would not have been entitled to receive NI credits whilst you were on your partner's ESA claim, as you had no underlying claim for benefit in your own name (either ESA, JSA or UC).

One of the main differences between joint claims for legacy benefits (JSA, ESA) and UC is that both claimants on a UC claim are entitled to receive NI credits if they are not working. If you are below state pension age, you and your partner can may make a joint claim for UC and you may be entitled to receive NI credits (depending on your joint capital and income)

Otherwise you should talk to HMRC about purchasing missing years if you are unable to accrue sufficient for a full state pension by the time you retire.

calcotti

A partner attached to an ESA claim does not get any NI credits because they are not a claimant.

It is something UC has improved because both halves of a couple are claimants and both get NI. 

It’s a bit depressing that you are being passed around rather than someone just being able to tell you that you are not entitled to any credits.

How many years have you got until you reach pension age yourself?

Are either of you claiming any other benefits?

Do you have any health conditions that would limit your ability to work?