I often get asked why I can’t get the money from ESA (I am on “credits only ESA”). It is in my About Me and my FAQ, but I thought I would cover it again.
This is a shocking story and I don’t understand why news outlets wouldn’t be interested in this as most people don’t know this is a thing, that disabled people can get ESA, but no money and will never get any money. That is where I am. Feel free to share this and tag your MP’s as this needs changing, but my voice is too small.
I live on PIP alone which is currently £400 a month since April 2024, and that is all I can get.
The reason I can’t get ESA (employment and support allowance) is because I worked part time instead of quitting my full time job and signing up for ESA straight away, I got part time jobs instead as I thought I should work as much as I physically can before claiming.
I genuinely thought that other people needed it more and I would be able to claim it when I couldn’t go on no more. I was so wrong.
I took a part time job while physically killed me, but I pushed though. I couldn’t do that anymore after some years, so I went to part time casual work.
It was really hard and I was in tears from the pain, but I pushed until I couldn’t even make it to the bus stop without extreme pain and fatigue.
So I applied for ESA.
I get told that I can’t get the money from ESA as I don’t have two years full of national insurance contributions from work in the 2 years prior to applying.
I was told (which turned out to be a lie) that I qualify for “credits only ESA” which is NI credits only, no money, and after 2 years of full NI credits, I could claim the money from ESA. That was a lie. I can never get the money!
So I waited over 2 years on credits only ESA, for nothing. No money.
I qualify for ESA otherwise and had to do the same application, same medical assessments as full ESA recipients, and I am in the support group which is the highest level for those who cannot work (other group is called working group), but I can’t get the money from ESA, just the NI credits.
They told me the credits have to come from work in the 2 years prior to applying for ESA, which is the opposite of what I was told!
It even says this misinformation on citizens advice website as of 27th June 2024, and has for years.
Here you can see this misinformation:
But you can’t use the NI credits from credits only ESA for the ESA claim. That is what I was told after I called up after 2 years.
I waited years for nothing and I will NEVER get the money from ESA as I can never work again!
So again to clarify, as I worked part time instead of quitting my full time job and signing up for ESA, before I was bad, I can’t get ESA ever again.
That is ridiculous, but that is the rule and I have this in writing from DWP, my MP and parliament TWICE!
I worked part time but it was below the hours/income for when you pay NI as you don’t pay it unless you earn over a certain amount. I physically couldn’t work more than a few hours a week, so I couldn’t pay NI.
Remember they want 2 FULL years from work only! That is not what they told me multiple times to start with.
But either way, NI should have no relevance!
I HAD worked full time for years, just not in the 2 years prior to applying as I physically couldn’t do that many hours to pay NI. So I have history of NI, but not good enough for them.
I worked hard, it killed me so much, but I pushed myself to work while I could, before I couldn’t even physically get to the bus stop let alone work!
So I qualify, fully, am in the support group, but I get NI credits only. No money and never will get any!
This is madness but these are the rules that the Conservatives set up.
I can’t get other benefits such as Universal Credit as I don’t qualify due to living situation as I can never afford rent and living costs on £400 a month total income. I can NEVER afford rent. So I share a house and pay bills only, but this isn’t a landlord as I can’t afford rent, so their income is taken into account, even though we live separately, no landlord, no tenancy agreement = not a rental in their eyes.
Lots of information on the FAQ and About Me.
Would you mind sharing my story on social media and you could even tag news outlets to raise this issue.
The general election is almost here and this should be changed.
