CB ESA and NI credits

I am helping a client whose ESA CB has come to an end after 12 months. His wife works full time so not entitled to IR ESA.
He was getting CA for caring for somebody and I believe should have got NI credits from that. Should they count towards his entitlment to CB ESA?

Also I am just wondering is there any benefit in cl countinue to send in sick note and countinue to claim ESA CB? I know you can be entitled to NI credits even whe ESA is not be in payment but I can’t understand how it actually works?  what if my cl already has full NI records (assuming current 30 years?) Plus now he has been sent the WCA ESA50 too. should he fill it in and return it??

Sorry to ask too many questions , my knowldge in this area is limited.
Thank you.

SKhalid - 18 January 2016 11:29 AM

I am helping a client whose ESA CB has come to an end after 12 months. His wife works full time so not entitled to IR ESA.
He was getting CA for caring for somebody and I believe should have got NI credits from that. Should they count towards his entitlment to CB ESA?

Also I am just wondering is there any benefit in cl countinue to send in sick note and countinue to claim ESA CB? I know you can be entitled to NI credits even whe ESA is not be in payment but I can’t understand how it actually works?  what if my cl already has full NI records (assuming current 30 years?) Plus now he has been sent the WCA ESA50 too. should he fill it in and return it??

Sorry to ask too many questions , my knowldge in this area is limited.
Thank you.

you might be best to seek a bit of help from someone with a bit of experience in the area of ni conts as this can be very difficult to get your head around and give advice on.

in short, the answer is yes there is a benefit as it could entitle them to housing benefit for example as they would still get a wrag component in their calc. plus if their condition got worse or they got assessed again and put into the support group then their money could restart.

the reason i think you might need to chat this through with someone is there are a few questions i have from your post but they would relate to tax years and benefit years and thats quite hard to explain on this type of format. do cpag have an adviser line in england like they do up here you can use?

CPAG advice line: http://www.cpag.org.uk/advisers

Unless you can think of a particularly compelling reason to not do so, I would suggest continuing to send in medical certificates and to complete the ESA50.

In addition to NI credits, by keeping the “claim” going, it is easier to go back on to ESA if the claimant satisfies the support group criteria in future, which means contributory ESA can start again.

The deal about getting contributory ESA when you’ve been getting Carers Allowance probably needs a face to face conversation between you and a knowledgeable adviser. Perhaps someone can explain it clearly here - there is a thread on Rightsnet, some time in the last couple of years, which talked at length about how entitlement to contributory ESA is affected by people who have been getting Carers Allowance.

Thank you for the replies. great help:)