ESA

I need advice! Please. My wife, who has terminal lung cancer, remained at work right up until she began chemotherapy, she is still employed, but unfit for work and in receipt of no income from her employer. She applied for ESA but was refused on the grounds that her NI contributions were not up to date. She has 40 years of full contributions but the claim was assessed against the only year in her work record that contributions were not made in full, she only had 34 weeks contributions in 2014/15 which is the year they used. I have been told that she should appeal the decision, but not until after Christmas and we should ask to invoke the pie breaker process. Can anybody advise us on how to progress? Why not set things in motion until January? What is 'pir breaker'? Any help or advice great fully received.
Just for info, when she originally applied they wrote to the tax office telling them to adjust her tax code in light of the ESA they would be paying her whilst writing to my wife to tell her she would get nothing. They also wrote to her doctor saying that no more medical certificates would be required on the same day that they wrote to us saying if we stop sending in med certs they would stop making NI contributions for her. Has anyone else been subject to this level of incompetence and confusion?

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What an absolute nightmare for you!

I'm afraid that DWP do not have any choice over which years NI contributions are used, it is the last 2 full tax years prior to this one.

January (rather than April) is a new year as far as DWP are concerned, so that might be why you were advised to wait. However, if you wife has not made any further contributions since 2014/5 I'm afraid I don't think it wil make any difference.

I have no idea what a 'pie breaker' is! Gordon might be able to comment when he returns later this evening.

Has your wife claimed PIP? Her claim should be 'fast tracked' if she is in the unfortunate position of not being expected to live beyond 6 months. Have a look at our PIP guide if you are not sure.

PIP help for claimants

May I suggest that you bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future? This wil allow you to return with further questions or comments relating to your wife's claim without having to start a new topic each time. We ask members to keep everything relating to the same issue in one topic as it makes things easier for us - I hope you will find it useful too

Just a thought - could it be 'tie breaker' as opposed to pie breaker ??

Mabel2015 wrote: Just a thought - could it be 'tie breaker' as opposed to pie breaker ??

I wondered that - but it still doesn't make much sense. However, anything is possible with DWP!

Thank you all for your response to my enquiry. Several issues have been raised in an attempt to help, so I'll try to clarify. First, my wife has been awarded PIP, so that helps. Also, although she gets no benefit from ESA, they are paying her NI contributions and these were being paid by her employer up until her SSP stopped, so there is no gap in NI contributions this year. The problem stems from the fact that, 2014-15, she was working in the care sector doing only a few hours each week and not reaching an income that triggered the NI threshold, so there were many weeks, it wasn't paid. She couldn't do more hours because she was unwell. We now know why, but at that time, she was undiagnosed. It seems that, had she been a civil servant and being paid whilst unfit for work, her NI contributions would have been paid and this problem wouldn't exist. But unfortunately she was working for an employer who didn't feel obliged to support her. We'll send in the appeal in January and I'll let you know how we get on. Finally, I have no issue with my name appearing, but thanks to those who pointed it out. Fanksmuchly.
Ray