UC85 + Gaps in Nationak Insurance record

A friend of mine recently passed her medical assessment while she was on UC, and she requested a copy of UC85 (assessment report) via journal & phone call since Nov 2021 but struggled to make progress.

She already messaged her coach 7 times on UC but they just kept ignoring her requests and posting her UCD81 (the assessment outcome) instead, although she made it very clear what she wants is the assessment report.

She also called the UC helpline 0800 328 5644 numerous times, but kept getting pushed back and asked her to use the journal instead because they cannot order any documents to post to her via phone. Luckily she tried again on Wednesday and finally a gentleman who answered the call said he would look for the document required in the system and arrange one to send to her. But while she was put on hold, the line got cut off. At the moment she can only hope her request was indeed processed by the UC officer.

She does not mind to contact UC again to ask for the report if still nothing shows up after 2 weeks but we were told by some the report would be destroyed after 28 days after the date of decision?? We were just wondering whether or not this statement is true, and what could my friend do if the report got destroyed?

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My friend also checked her NI record recently and noticed there is a gap. She contacted NI helpline and was told they never being informed she now on UC and the officer said this is why there is a gap/not enough contribution. So the officer asked her to contact UC to investigate what happened.

Again, she messaged and called UC many many times to report the problem, but they either just ignored her, or told her to speak to HMRC because it is a tax issue,

or said to her "Universal Credit is a non taxable benefit therefore no credits would be awarded",

or said "this claimant is not within 4 months of State Pension Age. Contributions records relating to Universal Credit cannot be updated manually using e-NIRS. A solution is being progressed that will involve all Universal Credit claimants with a contingency if a case is rejected. No action is needed for the majority of Universal Credit claimants."

She called NI helpline again yesterday but was simply told Universal Credit claimants automatically receive Class 3 contributions and once again, asked her to liaise with UC.

So basically she got stuck. the NI officer said she should have received contribution while she is on UC and they never being told my friend is now on UC. And the UC officer provided her lots of answers but none of them resolving the problem. And the two departments, somehow just does not talk to each other, they just keep telling my friend to liaise with the other department.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks Gary, for your detailed reply!

I’ll pass the information on to my friend ASAP!

She already received the outcome of the assessment in 2021, and has been chasing UC for a copy of the UC85 for almost 3 months but to no avail. Luckily the report would at least not be destroyed after 28 days. Thank you so much for your clarification on this.

Regarding Gaps in the NI, she said she already checked her NI record online using the gov web and the NI officer also confirmed she has a gap and she should get Class 3 credits automatically while she is on UC. The problem is that it seems the UC officers have no ideas of why this'd happened and what they need to do to resolve the issue. And the two departments are reluctant /refused to talk to each other directly to resolve the issue. I think you are right, my friend might need to seek help from the MP eventually.

Once again, thank you very much for your help and time on this. I really appreciate it.

This link from Rightsnet may shed some light on the national Insurance record. You really could not make up these sorts of mismanagement.

www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/17920/