As some of you may know, I have to live on PIP alone which is just £400 a month and I cannot get a penny more.
I pushed myself working part time thinking I was doing the right thing after I was no longer able to work full time. Working until I couldn’t anymore.
But THAT is exactly why I cannot get ESA. Because I worked part time after I couldn’t do full time anymore, so didn’t pay National Insurance (NI) and will never be able to get ESA even though I qualify for the highest level which is the support group. I will be in poverty forever because of this!
I cannot afford rent anywhere, let alone pay for the bills such as electric, gas, council tax, water etc.
I haven’t had the heating on in over 3 years due to the cost and am still in hundreds of pounds of debt (was over £880) for energy bills as the cost of energy is high plus there is standing charges every day which all add up.
Even when it is -3x outside and snowing, I can’t afford heating.
This house is extra cold plus has damp and mould too, and if it is around 3c outside, it is around 6c inside. If it is -3c outside, it is around 3c inside. Thick stone walls are terrible for keeping the heat in, plus the damp and mould don’t help. I am cold every day of the year as it isn’t even warm inside in summer.
When I say how little I live on, I always get replies from people either disagreeing or treating me like I just haven’t done any research, which is very wrong!
I spent literally YEARS fighting to get more money but the benefits have to follow the rules set out by the government, and there are specific things you have to do or get to qualify.
I have a FAQ and a About Me page which answers all these questions and more, but people usually don’t go into those pages, and just expect me to explain to these random strangers who demand answers (which is crazy as I am just a human not a robot) and I can’t keep replying with the same thing over and over, as typing is not only painful, but extremely physically draining as I have chronic pain and chronic fatigue, and both are severe and getting worse as months pass.
That is why I wrote those pages to answer the questions to save my typing.
I cannot get ESA nor Universal Credit, nor any other benefit other than PIP which is just £400 a month total income.
I cannot get a penny more and never will be able to. I will live on a poverty income for the rest of my life thanks to the government.
I get “credits only ESA” which is National Insurance credits only. No money and I will NEVER be able to get the money from ESA.
I had to do the same ESA application as everyone else, same assessments and forms etc. Only difference is, I get no money, just national insurance credits and I won’t ever get the money from ESA! Never!
The reason I can’t get ESA is because I worked part time instead of quitting my full time job and applying for ESA straight away.
Instead, I worked part time for as long as I could, as I thought you should push yourself until you can’t work at all.
Working and pushing myself until I couldn’t work at all is why I can’t ever get ESA!
Yes you read that right!
Working for years instead of just quitting and applying for ESA is why I can NEVER get the money from ESA!
You have to have gained the 2 full years NI contributions in the 2 years prior to claiming ESA FROM WORK, not earned by credits only ESA. I literally cannot work at all, let alone full time, so I could never get ESA now!
You can see this information on the government website.
I applied and had to do the same assessment as everyone else and I qualify for the support group which is for the “most disabled”, but all I get is credits only ESA. No money and will never get the money ever in my lifetime even though I can never work again.
Working part time meant I didn’t earn enough/work enough hours to qualify to pay NI, so I can’t get the NI credits needed to get the money from ESA, and never will be able to.
You only pay NI over a certain income and working part time on minimum wage was below that threshold.
So I can never get the money from ESA, ever in my life. And I am forced to live on a poverty income for the rest of my life.
Before you say “no that isn’t true, you can get this or that”. No I can’t get anything else, this is 100% true and confirmed but by multiple benefit advice centres/charities, the DWP many times, my MP, a solicitor and even had a parliament reply confirming this! This is 100% fact.
There is no way around it as they get the requirements and won’t overlook one rule for someone.
I also can’t get Universal Credit.
As I live on £400 a month total income, I cannot afford rent anywhere at all. Remember that £400 has to cover rent, food, bills, council tax, gas and electricity, any transportation costs to doctors/hospital etc.
I would be homeless too, but I was offered a roof over my head by a friend who lets me pay some bills only. No rent.
No rent means no landlord and no tenancy agreement.
So that means their income is taken into account.
If I had a landlord and was paying an agreed rent, obviously I would have a tenancy agreement and the landlord would have to fix any issues, but no one is going to say “hey stay here for just paying some bills in this falling apart damp and mouldy house and I’ll give you a tenancy agreement” because they would have to follow the law and fix broken things, and the severe mould and damp etc, which they too cannot afford!
No one would do that!!
They would just not offer me a room if they had to do that! There is a difference between being kind and renting out a room.
So I don’t get the rights a tenant would, but that also means I don’t have a landlord as I don’t pay rent so I cannot get UC.
Again, this is correct, confirmed many times the same as ESA was confirmed as I asked about both as the same time when I spoke to any advice centre, MP, solicitor and parliament.
I still keep following up with the government every so often asking them to change the law about ESA eligibility as they need to change it so that you need 2 full years of NI from work at any point in your life, not just the 2 years prior to applying for ESA, but as there is only a few hundred people in the country who live on PIP alone and “credits only ESA”, they don’t do much as not enough people complaining.
Plus most people don’t even seem to care about disabled people. We are always forgotten.
People speak about the elderly, but never the disabled who can’t work and are home as much or even more than the elderly as not everyone elderly is infirm.
I pushed myself working part time thinking I was doing the right thing. Working until I couldn’t anymore. But THAT is exactly why I cannot get ESA. Because I worked part time after I couldn’t do full time anymore, so didn’t pay NI and will now never be able to get ESA even though I qualify for the highest level which is the support group.
The choice of where to live with a poverty income was here or the streets again.
I cannot be homeless on the streets now as I can’t stand the cold and am also on multiple opioids, which WOULD get stolen. Plus I physically couldn’t do it as not only is my health too bad, I am disabled and can barely move.
I wish I could get more than I can, but until the government change the rules about these benefits (which they won’t do as they are getting even tougher), I am stuck on PIP alone at £400 a month.
Poverty level income for the rest of my life.
If you want to help, you could try to raise awareness about people stuck in a situation like me by posting on social media or blogging about how ESA requires people to have 2 years full of NI in the 2 years prior to applying for ESA, even if they have 2 full years earlier, that doesn’t qualify. It must be in the 2 years prior to applying for ESA.
You could try to raise awareness showing how disabled people who have worked hard, but couldn’t work full time in the 2 years prior to not being able to work at all, are penalised.
Chronic illnesses mean that health gets worse over time so many had to do the same, reduce how much they could work until they couldn’t work at all.
If you would like to support me you can in many ways! I have a support me page that lists all the ways you can.
I accept donations via Ko-Fi (accept any card or Paypal) which I very rarely get, but I never expect anything!
I also have a Amazon wish list and I accept online gift cards for supermarkets that I can use online such as ASDA or Sainsburys (must be able to be used online as I cannot get to a store).
