New Style ESA claim and National Insurance credits

Dear All,
I used to claim Contribution ESA about 11 years ago and finally exhausted my NI contributions so it was stopped.
I had a lady from DWP call and advise me not to shut my claim done in order to receive my NI credits especially as I’m female as I need them for my state pension which I have been receiving ever since and I have a full NI record since 1990.
Due to my various health conditions deteriorating and I have been on PIP since 11 years ago, I was advised and checked and triple checked to see if I was eligible for ESA.
I have done the claimant commitment, was told what day I would receive payments and received the form to fill out. Then I received a letter saying I do not have enough contributions which I have argued about but every time I ring no one can access my NI records. Today a lady from DWP is saying my ESA claim is active but on a credit only basis but I still need to fill the form out to continue to now receive the credits which have been paid for the past 11 years in order to try and keep them but I won’t get the assessment rate or payments. This doesn’t sound right to me and Ive only got a couple of weeks left in order to fill out the form. Can anyone advise please as I don’t want to fill out the form unnecessarily as it is awful. Thank you.