ESA

[Elaine15]

Had a operation on my hand carpal tunnel surgery had problems ever since op i am self employed so i went on the sick trying to claim Esa got turned down as not paid enough NI as i didn't know when your child turns 12 they stop paying you credits just wondering is it worth my while paying it on my self assessment i dont earn enough to pay NI but will pay if i can claim ESA as dont know how long i am going to be on the sick for thanks

Have you looked at claiming Universal Credit?

If you are self employed you still have to pay national insurance.

Can't claim universal credit as partner earns to much but not enough to live on at this moment thanks

Yes you can choose to if earn over £11,908 but i dont, i dont even earn half of that but as my family allowance was paying my class 2 NI i wasn't to bother about it as i have 33years full contribution until now which i only found out when universal credit phoned me and said i hadn't paid enough NI to make a claim so when i look it up yes it stop when my daughter turned 12 last September so i was thinking if i paid my class 2 NI up to date can i make a new claim thanks

I'm self employed and earn under the amount, but still need to pay it with my self assessment and that is with 3 children under 12. Never heard of child benefit covering national insurance, is this new or just an English thing as I'm in Scotland.

You can get credits towards your pension if you claim child benefit. They don't count towards ESA or JSA.

I didn't know this. Is it something that is automatic or does it need to be opted into?

It's automatic until your child's 12th birthday @Pieandchips1234456

OP, I looked into this a while ago for a slightly different reason. I'm fairly sure if you top up your NI contributions yourself they will count towards your pension but not towards contribution based ESA or other benefits. I found the info on the gov.uk website somewhere but can't find the page now. But I would double check with CAB if I were you.