nsESA claim - claim declined then cl paid NI conts and is now eligible

Has anyone had experience of this?

We have a client who claimed nsESA in Dec 2018 and it was declined as they had not paid enough NI conts (self-employed).  They requested an MR which was also declined.

They then paid the NI conts for the relevant years and reclaimed.

They have since been told by DWP that they should not have put in a new claim, they should have just told them and the original claim could have been reinstated.

1. This does not sound right as the decision DWP made was correct at at the time so can’t see why a later action would now make that claim valid.
2. If it is correct, I can’t see how putting in a new claim would prevent the old one from being reinstated anyway?

Thoughts?

When did your client actually pay their contributions?  If it was after 6 January 2019, late contributions only count six weeks after they are paid, so there may be six weeks loss of benefit.

For a nsESA claim made in December 2018, the relevant tax years for NI contributions are April 15 – April 16, and April16 - April 17.  If the second claim was made on or after 6 January 2019 (a new “benefit year”) the relevant tax years are April 16 – April 17 and April 17 – April 18.  Occasionally, it is worth delaying a claim for a contributory benefit until the new benefit year, so that entitlement is determined by different contribution years.

Hi Thanks so much for your reply.

So, assuming this client paid NI conts for the 15/16 and 16/17 tax years in December 2018 then 6 weeks later she put in a new claim.  She would now be in the 2019 benefit year and so DWP would look at the 16/17 and 17/18 tax years instead and the client may not qualify.

However, DWP are saying that she should have asked for this original claim to be assessed again; but…. if the client had to wait 6 weeks for the contributions to “count”, then it can’t be possible for the first claim to be reinstated and for those contributions to apply to the first claim, as those contributions couldn’t be considered at the time that claim was made?

Or have I misunderstood?

The 6-week delay for late contributions to “count” only applies if the contributions are paid in a later benefit year than the claim.  If the contributions are paid in the SAME benefit year as the claim is made (in your example in December) they are not treated as being late, and hence count immediately.

OK so if the contributions were paid before 06/01, then the 6 week delay should not apply.

So could the client, having paid the contributions, waited 6 weeks and used the first application to as their application?  Even though it had been declined?