New style ESA and NI contributions. 17 March at 7:17PM in Benefits & tax credits 5 replies 157 views

liverbird4

I have 37 years plus full NI contributions, I have not worked since 2019 due to ill health, I do receive PIP(enhanced mobility and standard living inc blue badge) and have a small private pension. I tried to claim New Style ESA on the support group to try and receive the disability premium but was refused on the grounds of not enough NI contributions in the years 2018 & 2019. I would have to pay nearly £1,500 to apply again for ESA after 12 weeks (and it wont enhance my pension), also I cant apply for UC as my partner is receiving his pension, I am not entitled to my state pension till I am 67 another 7 years away. What can I do, can anyone help me please?

Rubyroobs

I guess you will need to work out whether it is worth paying the £1500 to start receiving ESA payments. If your private pension works out to over £85 a week then that would also affect how much ESA you would receive. You may still have entitlement to Universal credit if you include that you would receive the LCWRA element and carers elements on your claim, but your private pension and partners pensions would be deducted in full. have you had a proper benefit check done with CAB or similar?

poppy12345

NI contributions in years 2018/19 are not considered for a claim for New style ESA now. What they look at are tax years 2020/21 and 2021/22. As you haven't worked in those 2 tax years then they are correct you won't be entitled to any payments for this.

To be entitled you need either class 1 or class 2 NI contribution and you can't pay class 2 unless you were self employed. This means that paying for those gaps in your NI contributions isn't going to help you here.

The disability premiums you're talking about are also not payable when claiming New style ESA. They are only payable when claiming Income Related ESA and it's no longer possible to claim this.

If your partner is state pension age this doesn't mean you can't claim UC. As a mixed aged couple it would be UC that you'll need to claim but their state pension and your pension will be deducted in full. Whether there's any entitlement after the deductions will depend on your joint circumstances. Have you used a benefits calculator to check entitlement? https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator

HillStreetBlues

poppy12345 said:

 Have you used a benefits calculator to check entitlement? LINK DELETED

Just a heads up when sharing links to places like entitled to
If it contains a reference such as "cid=044f5f75-a614-4092-812c-3e1d379f7810"  that is personalised and anyone with that link can see what's been entered  so not private
I've entered Buckingham Palace postcode in the link to show how anyone can use or see it.

The link to use is
https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator
As that will generate a personal private link of it's own, so no one else will be able to see what's been entered

poppy12345

HillStreetBlues said:

poppy12345 said:

 Have you used a benefits calculator to check entitlement? https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/Intro/Home?cid=044f5f75-a614-4092-812c-3e1d379f7810

Just a heads up when sharing links to places like entitled to
If it contains a reference such as "cid=044f5f75-a614-4092-812c-3e1d379f7810"  that is personalised and anyone with that link can see what's been entered  so not private
I've entered Buckingham Palace postcode in the link to show how anyone can use or see it.

The link to use is
https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator
As that will generate a personal private link of it's own, so no one else will be able to see what's been entered

Thanks. I have no idea why it's come up like that because i haven't entered any personal information into any benefit calculator.

HillStreetBlues

poppy12345 said:

Thanks. I have no idea why it's come up like that because i haven't entered any personal information into any benefit calculator.

NP
Although no info was added by you ,  if someone does input any new info, that will be seen by anyone clicking on the link.
So if someone did complete the form via that link,  then anyone who later clicks on the link will see a completed form.
They should give a warning about this issue, as no sign on the page that this would happen.