UC or NS-ESA?

Hi
I'm currently in the process of completing a UC50 form (oh what fun - not!).

I've also discovered by checking my NI record that I might qualify for NS-ESA. I'm surprised by that as the 2 years of contributions that would qualify me for it appear as NI paid in full. However, I was self-employed and haven't even paid Class 2 NI for the last 3 years.

My questions are if I am eligible to apply for it should I bother and if I should, would it be better to wait until my UC claim is confirmed before applying for it?

Also, if I did apply for it either now or after my UC claim, would it have any impact on my UC claim, for example, would it stall my UC claim so that I ended up without any money for another 5 weeks or so?

I understand one advantage of ESA is that it's paid fortnightly but are there any other advantages beyond that?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thank you for all the info David. I'll look into it further but think for now I'll just concentrate on the UC as that's more than enough to contend with at the moment.