New Style ESA claim and National Insurance credits

Hi Em,

Me personally in relation to your situation would contact HMRC, because I believe they have information on their system relating to N.I. conts, and may possibly be able to advise you - unless one of our other claimants or mods can before this.

Hope this helps - Chris.

Hi Em Bancroft

Firstly if the above is your real name would you please change your Forum user name for internet security reasons.
What the DWP is saying makes sense. You have made a claim for payments of New Style ESA but rightly it has been turned down as you don't qualify them. But you do qualify for Credits Only New Style ESA. However with New Style everyone has to accept a Claimant Commitment. I don't think there are any more forms to fill out and you may have to attend the Jobcentre to sign the Claimant Commitment. Some Forum members with mobility issues have been able to agree this over the phone.

Let me know how you get on.
David

Hi Banners7474

You say "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." So as you have had an active ESA claim continuously receiving NI credits then you retain your health status ( Support or WRAG ) and you don't have to complete an ESA50. I would phone ESA and inform them of this and also ask them why you no longer have the health status and the date they are saying it stopped.
You only will qualify for New Style ESA payments if you meet the following conditions--

" The contribution conditions
You qualify for contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) if you have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions. There are two contribution conditions you must meet:

First contribution condition - in one of the last two complete tax years, you must have paid Class 1 or 2 contributions on relevant earnings at the lower earnings limit for at least 26 weeks. This means you must have worked for at least 26 weeks of the last two complete tax years; and
Second contribution condition - in both of the last two complete tax years, you must have paid or been credited with, Class 1 or 2 contributions on earnings of at least 50 times the lower earnings limit.
The 2 tax years that are relevant are the ones that were completed before the benefit year in which your period of limited capability for work began.

The tax year runs 6 April - 5 April
The benefit year runs from the first Sunday in January
The lower earnings limit was £123 per week in both 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Relaxation of the first contribution condition
The rules are complex and there are situations where the first contribution condition can be relaxed for certain groups of ESA claimants meaning that these specific groups can use National Insurance contributions paid in any tax year to satisfy the first contribution condition. This could apply to you if:

you were entitled to Carer's Allowance in the last complete tax year immediately before the benefit year in which your Limited Capability for Work began
you were in qualifying remunerative work and entitled to the disability element, or the severe disability element, of Working Tax Credit for at least two years immediately before the first day of your Limited Capability for Work began
you are entitled to be credited with earnings or contributions following release from prison where a conviction is quashed, or would be if an application was made, in respect of any week in any tax year before the relevant benefit year
you are entitled to be credited with earnings equal to the Lower Earnings Limit on the grounds that you are a spouse or civil partner of a member of Her Majesty's Forces and accompanied that member of Her Majesty's Forces on an assignment outside the UK or treated as such by the Secretary of State."

Let me know how you get on.
David