Massive shortage of NI contributions

The_Nest_Folk

Hi all
I was injured in 2005 and lost my job in 2007. I have been disabled since and have claimed PIP since around 2014. 

I have savings but need these for my meagre income which leaves absolutely no spare funds. 

I have not paid NI since 2011 and so I am now stuffed for any pension too. 

I went to the job center and tried to apply for a NI contribution via Job Seekers but was declined as I am not fit enough for work - and I can’t get ESA etc as I haven’t paid enough in NI. 

Any ideas? It looks like I have to find £842 per year I have missed…..tricky. 

My house is falling down and I can’t get a grant to help with that because of my savings which would only cover 25% of the work required. 

What can I do? 

calcotti

The_Nest_Folk said:

I went to the job center and tried to apply for a NI contribution via Job Seekers but was declined as I am not fit enough for work - and I can’t get ESA etc as I haven’t paid enough in NI.

You can still apply for new style ESA. You will not be able to be paid anything but can still be referred for a Work Capability Assessment and if found to have Limited Capability for Work will get Class 1 NI credits which will count towards your future State Pension. 

Do you have now have savings over £16,000?

When you were working up to 2015 when you were injured were you on a very low wage? I note that you don't seem to have an NI record even back then.

tacpot12

Can those Class 1 NI Credits be granted retrospectively to cover the period from when the OP became eligible for them, or is the fact that they are only have the WCA in 2023 going to mean that they can't be backdated?  

If the OP uses their savings to buy any missing NI years that they can (noting that the rules around this are changing in July 2023) would this be regarded as deliberate depravation of assets? I am inclined to think that it should not be for any Universal Credit claim, because the OP's significant operative purpose is to build up a state pension entitlement that they cannot not get any other way (rather than to increase the amount of benefit they are available to).  

Spoonie_Turtle

OP this is separate from your NI credits question but if you have over £16,000 in savings, you may wish to do a benefits calculation putting in your details as if you have savings of £6,000 or under, to see what you would be entitled to if you used your savings towards house repairs.  Then you could work out whether you would be able to survive on UC plus PIP and thus whether you can afford to use your savings that way.  (PIP is not counted as income when working out UC though, just to be clear.)

If you had a WCA for an ESA claim, then the outcome of that would transfer to a UC claim as well.  If you were put in the Support Group, you would subsequently be entitled to the LCWRA element of a UC claim.

calcotti

tacpot12 said:

Can those Class 1 NI Credits be granted retrospectively to cover the period from when the OP became eligible for them, or is the fact that they are only have the WCA in 2023 going to mean that they can't be backdated?  

The NI credits could only start from when the ESA is applied for.

calcotti

I understand from OP that they stopped work in 2011 rather than 2015. It is unfortunate that ESA was not applied for back then but I would definitely try applying for new style would result in NI credits going forward until OP reaches State Pension age. This would hopefully get another 7 or 8 years of NI.

in the meantime you should get a State Pension forecast to see whether there are years of NI you could pay voluntarily now to increase the SP entitlement. You need to get that forecast now in order to work out whether or not anything is worthwhile.

ESA can be applied for online and can be backdated for 3 months. A Fit Note will be needed to support the application and if the claim is to be backdated the Fit Note will need be backdated too. Getting that will depend on the support of the GP.

tacpot12 said:

If the OP uses their savings to buy any missing NI years that they can (noting that the rules around this are changing in July 2023) would this be regarded as deliberate depravation of assets? I am inclined to think that it should not be for any Universal Credit claim, because the OP's significant operative purpose is to build up a state pension entitlement that they cannot not get any other way (rather than to increase the amount of benefit they are available to).  

In that scenario I agree with tacpot that it would very unreasonable to treat this as deprivation of capital.