No National Insurance credits with PIP. What now?

[lordiegord]

Does anyone get PIP, not able to work but can't claim income related benefits due to SO earnings?

What can you do to get National Insurance credits in these circumstances? Another source of worry to finish me off.

Any advice would be amazing.

Can your SO afford to pay for them? Mine cost £700ish so about £60 a month
Are you able to look after a family members U12 and have their credits transferred to you?

Can you claim ESA? Even if they won't pay you might be able to do a credits only claim to protect your national insurance record

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

Apply for ESA. You will not receive any benefits if you’re not eligible but you will get your NI credits.

I'm in the same position as the OP but I know DH wont pay. That link looks interesting but I thought you had to have enough contributions to access ESA first.

@Singleandproud How do you organise paying for them yourself?

I applied for contribution-based ESA and they said I hadn't paid enough in over the previous years due to a mixture of being off for periods due to ill health or not qualifying due to not earning enough.

Does ESA mean you have to go to all those appointments so they make you get a job? I cannot cope with that.

This is there an organisation who can help me organise this, as this worry has triggered horrible symptoms and thoughts?

I'm also worried about this (was just googling it and this thread came up). My situation is I'm a single parent on esa, pip and uc (with small ill health pension). When dc become 18 I will have to sell my house and buy a small flat because i wont affordthe bills and mortgage (but I'll probably have over £16000 equity left over) I'll not be able to claim uc (and assume not esa) I will still have about 5 years to full contributions and will need to do something as I have my small ill health pension which will probably take me over pension credit entitlement. Martin Lewis website says if you only have state pension to rely on don't pay for ni years but if you have a private pension it's probably worth it. If I could claim esa (without getting any money) that would be great but I'm mot sure (it's all too confusing).

@lordiegord I don't actually pay for them myself but when I access my NI record on HMRC it tells me how much I need to pay to make up any missed years, you can back date upto 6 years and need (I think) 35 years total, there are instructions of how to pay them on the website.

Op, did you submit an actual claim for ESA? It's common that the call handlers will tell you you cannot make a claim if you don't have enough ni contributions over the previous two years. But that's not totally correct - you can't get any payment, but you can get ni credits.

You won't be expected to look for work with ESA, but you will need to submit sick notes and then have an assessment to decide if you are unable to work

Just wanted to throw it out there in case it's applicable. Do you get (or have you ever had) Child Benefit at all OP? Because you can get some of your NI credits that way as well.

@Greendrinksbottle I'm sorry you are having this worry too. It can be anxiety-inducing.

@Singleandproud Thank you I will try my best to work it out. It is very confusing. Especially when you get told different things by the professionals.

@Nonametonight Yes I did and it has been very confusing. I called and the call handler told me to apply for UC to get credits paid as I'm not entitled to ESA. Letters coming through with no explanation of what to do. It's very chaotic.

I think I'll have to call again.

@SisterMichaelsHabit Thank you for the suggestion. For children Over 12, there's no more credits.

I called Citizens Advice and even they were stumped with my question
As I don't fit into the typical categories, they had to ask someone. They said to pay my own if I could and go on the NI website to see if there are any gaps.

You need to phone to claim ESA and say that you want to make a credits only claim. They'll tell you that you can't get ESA because you haven't been working. You let them say it, then say: "I know that, but I want to make a credits only claim, please."

DD1 has never worked (LDs) but has had a credits only claim for a year or two.

When you claim New Style ESA, they first assess you for the monetary aspect (based on prior NI record) and if this is not applicable, it automatically switches to NI Credits only.

If you later go on to claim UC, this would terminate the ESA Credits only claim (in favour of NI Credits via UC).

If you get New Style ESA fully (i.e. a monetary award) then this continues alongside any UC claim, subject to the normal award lengths.

I suspect the call handlers don't have that level of nuanced understanding. I would ask for a call back from a Case Manager to clarify.

You said in your post you are already getting ESA ?