Disabled and on ESA/PIP - NI Credits Missing for the past 11yrs

Anomnomnomaly

I've copied and pasted this from the original post, for reference, the original thread is linked below from the topping up your state pension section. There are some corrections to info that was realised as the thread progressed.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81234703#Comment_81234703

(Original Posted/Edited)

I've been ill and disabled for a very long time, and my earnings basically ceased in 2010, I was on incapacity benefit, but was transferred to ESA in late 2013, and that appears to be when this problem started. I was also one of those people wrongly placed in the incorrect group to save the govt money... that they eventually lost many judicial reviews over and had to repay some 200k people the entirety of the back money.

I heard something about your NI contributions from 2006-20016 being extended for top ups until 2025, and thought I should check mine. Everything seemed fine, full years all the way from the late 80's to 2012 aside from 2 minor shortfalls in 1990 and 1993 due to small bouts of unemployment as a young man trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life after his apprenticeship and college ended and he realised it wasn't engineering.

For the 2013-2014 tax year there are only 35 weeks of NI credits, which is short 17 weeks. Those 17 weeks are roughly the same time as the switch from IB to ESA in late 2013 (oct/Nov as I recall). In comparison, all of the previous years I was on IB have 52. I've checked as much info as I can through the DWP sites and I am entitled to NI credits for every week I am unable to work through health, unemployment or acting as a carer. I just haven't been getting them from late 2013 until present day.

Around Jan/Feb 2018 I was finally placed into the correct ESA support group and from mid 2017 I started getting PIP as well.

Whilst I'm not going to be claiming my state pension for a further 15yrs, there is no chance of my health improving, it will slowly decline. My current entitlement to the state pension is about 3/4 of the full rate and I am at least 6-7yrs short of full entitlement. I have a tiny private pension that was taken out later in life, but payments into that ceased in 2010 also, current predictions are for less than 1k per year if I take no lump sum, or about £450yr if I do.

So I'll be entirely reliant on the state pension.

Any advice would be most grateful. I'm in Wales and have no citizens advice anywhere near me. I used to get help from a community law service when I lived in England.

I have been in touch with my local MP here, she emailed me back today and said that she'd written to the DWP asking for them to look into the matter and let her know when they have resolved it. She's asked me to give it 3 weeks and see if I hear anything, if not she'll chase them again.

I'm not in as full on panic mode as I was at the weekend when I discovered a shortfall of around £8k and a further £900-1000 being added each year until retirement. But until this is resolved, it's giving me a great deal of worry and concern.

Newcad

You are now on the right board for this question, and your are not alone - It is not at all unusual to find that NI credits have been missing from the time that your have been receiving ESA.

It happened to me.
In 2017 when I checked my State Pension forecast, it was short of a full pension, then checking my NI record I found that no credits had been given for the years 2012-2016, ie. for the whole 5 years (6 if you count 2017 too) that I had been getting ESA.
Discussing it on the Yourable forum at the time prompted others with ESA to check their NI records too and quite a few found that they also had 'missing' NI credits whilst on ESA.

The good news is that once  you do notice and complain about it then it gets sorted out quite quickly and all of the missing NI credits are applied backdated for the missed years. (52 credits for most years, 53 credits for some years).
I can't quite remember if I complained to HMRC or to ESA at the time, it should be a complaint to ESA, but being thorough I probably complained to both.
It's HMRC who apply the credits to their records, but they only do that once the DWP tells them that you have been claiming benefit. So its the DWPs fault for not telling HMRC.

If you have been in touch with your MP and she has already given the DWP a poke then that may have already done the job for you.

Once the DWP said they had been corrected I got HMRC to send me an updated NI record, and then got a new pension statement.
With those missing 5 years of credits restored I then had enough in paid NI and NI credits for a full State Pension, but I still kept my eye on it to make sure that ESA were informing HMRC to apply the credits. (and it's about time for me to do  another record request to make sure that since I migrated to UC that UC have been telling HMRC to apply the class 3 credits as they should).

For anyone reading you can check your NI contributions record here: https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record
I don't use the green button but use the 'Other ways to apply' to get a printed record posted to me: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/NIStatement

And for completeness here is where you apply for a State Pension forecast: https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension
Again I ignore the green button and send them a BR19 form, there is a fill-in-and-print version available on that webpage.

TimeLord1

Its a heading Formal Complaint to. 

Correspondence@dwp.gov.uk

National Insurance credits not automatically awarded in respect of ESA claim.

D.O.B

Telephone 

Email:

Your Name

Address 

National Insurance number 

Dear DWP,

I have recieved a statement of My National Insurance contributions record from HMRC.

This shows that not all NI credits have been made since the tax year **** a ** year shortfall up to ****

I have been a recipient of Employment Support Allowance since **** and as such Class 1 NI credits should have been added to my contribution record for the whole period since then.

Please confirm that this error will be updated corrected, the missing credits added to my NI record, and further credits added for as long as my ESA award continues.

Please confirm receipt of this email.

Regards 

Name

TimeLord1

They usually email but have also phoned to confirm it's been updated I think I was missing 15 years originally and incomplete by months on a year that was also their error.

Anomnomnomaly

It's horrifying to realise that this problem is not only quite common, but that they are seemingly trying to cover it up and ignore it. Denying that they know there's a problem.

I was pointed to this article from 2yrs ago.

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

So I emailed the editor of the site and asked if they'd be interested in following up as people in the article were missing short periods of up to 20 months at most, and I'm missing 11yrs.  But not heard anything back from them.

But given that after being switched from IB to ESA, I was deliberately placed into the wrong support group for over 4yrs, which denied me access to many other avenues to help, my ESA never went up a single penny in that entire time forcing me into further poverty, I couldn't even get free prescriptions and had to make the choice between taking medication or not because I simply couldn't afford them.I struggled to pay the mortgage and very nearly lost the house.

I finally got put into the right group after the govt lost multiple judicial revues over it, they also lost judicial revues over their denial of PIP for certain types of condition. So I qualified for PIP, they backdated that 6 months as it took them that long to sort it out, then I got my ESA money backdated, and the community service that helped me apply for these things said I also qualified for the SDP extra on my ESA. I was just one of some 200k people this happened to, and my backpayment was but a fraction of what others got.

All of that happened in a few short months... which was very fortunate, as 4 months later... I had a leak in my roof, which turned out to be serious enough that a new roof was required.

It ate up my entire awarded back money, but it saved my house from catastrophe.

So trying to look at the bright side of things... I guess I should be thanking them for their 'austerity' 

TimeLord1

The Incapacity underpayments being placed in the wrong group was 75,000+ people I can't remember when they started to sort it but it went into thousands owed to individual claims, some still trying to challenge costs they shouldn't have been paying but were but there's no past records because of system updates locked out. Cuts to DWP and not needing department's to update records as it should be automatically updated now by a central system. But people still find gaps today Lots through work programs and zero hour contracts, government training courses also where the credits aren't added the system doesn't recognize those changes until you enquire as to why and can refuse to update unless you have the correct data.

TimeLord1

@Newcad That template is credited to your hardwork 🙏

Newcad

@TimeLord1 I thought I recognised it as a template that I posted on Youreable - many moons ago now.

I probably still have a copy of it somewhere, but maybe I'll only have a link to the thread it was in as we never expected Youreable forum to close like it did and I didn't grab everything like that I had posted before it closed.
(TBH most of what I did grab is out of date now anyway, particularly the ESA to UC migration stuff).

TimeLord1

@Newcad yes a lot of regulation has changed and not relevant now, that's why I think the stored information on Youreable wouldn't even be reliable now, lots being about Incapacity and various benefits now moved. Just a community of people lost.

Anomnomnomaly

TimeLord1 said:

The Incapacity underpayments being placed in the wrong group was 75,000+ people I can't remember when they started to sort it but it went into thousands owed to individual claims, some still trying to challenge costs they shouldn't have been paying but were but there's no past records because of system updates locked out. Cuts to DWP and not needing department's to update records as it should be automatically updated now by a central system. But people still find gaps today Lots through work programs and zero hour contracts, government training courses also where the credits aren't added the system doesn't recognize those changes until you enquire as to why and can refuse to update unless you have the correct data.

I remember reading that it was original estimated to be around 75k and 200 million to repay, but I also remember reading multiple stories that the number kept growing and was later estimated to be up to 200k and would cost between 500 million and 1 billion to resolve.

But without full transparency... we'll never know the actual costs, and no one will face any justice for the lives lost as a result of their negligence.

TimeLord1

Did you email them to rectify the missing years they're usually pretty quick to respond to email titled Formal complaint.