Hi, my name is 1bumblebee!

1bumblebee

Hi, my name is Gabby and I live in Cornwall.

Im sorry to say I have a cognitive problem and I would love to work with 1 person if that is possible. I have so much in my mind and I am very confused 🤔 I have written a few emails to different organisations and it has confused me more, I still don't understand most things in the replys I've had. But I do believe I have had contact from scope. I will try to explain simply of my plight.

I will be 67 in April. But in April 2023 I received a letter from DWP informing me that I was not entitled to a state pension, and must add I knew nothing about state pensions. It came as a shock. What's really thrown me is I have been on first DLA and then when it changed was put on PIP over the course of 20 years. I was on ESA for approx 2 years, around 2011-2013 and was put in a safe group because I was to sick to work. Then I received an inheritance and rang to tell them and came off of ESA. I didn't ask about my NI payments and wasn't told anything about NI. I've now found out no one payed my NI over the last 20 years. I am not entitled to pension credits because of my over the limit savings. I still am confused as to whom or anyone should have payed my NI contributions. When I first took sick pay I didn't realize the day I left work that I would never return to work but that is what happened, and it seems because my NI wasn't paid I'm now not entitled to a state pension. Can anyone tell me please if my NI contributions should have been paid by me or someone else over the last 20 years? It just seems so unfair. I only had 8 yrs of contributions due to a very traditional marriage to an older man,and never thought of things like pensions (wish I had thoe) and we wanted children. But had my stamp been paid over the last 20years I would have had 28 yes of N.I contributions which obviously would have made a lot of difference. I am still on pip. I wonder if there is any other direction I can try, as I only around £500 a month. I live in a house with my now x-husband, on a friendly basis not a relationship and he cares for me. He is 8years older than I am,he's coming up 75 with his own health problems and if anything happened to him I really don't know what would happen to me. It's a continuous strain on me (and him) and I don't know which way to turn. If someone could help me here I would be very grateful, thank you

Kind regards

Gabby

poppy123456

Both DLA and PIP do not include NI credits. Benefits such as ESA, JSA, Income Support would include NI credits. When you claimed ESA for those years in 2011-13 then that should have included class 1 NI credits. Have you actually checked your NI contributions? You can check that here.

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

If you are 67 in April this year, I don't understand why you had a letter in April 2023 when you were 65 saying you're not entitled to state pension, I wouldn't expect you to be entitled to state pension at that age. State pension age is 66 do I don't know why you received a letter 1 year before you reached state pension age. Unless you applied for state pension a year before you should have. Please check your NI records above.

You can apply for state pension 4 months before you reach age 66. Have you applied?

For Pension Credit the capital (savings) limit is £10,000. There's no upper capital limit for this. For every £500 of capital over that amount your pension credit would reduce by £1/week. There's a PC calculator here that you could use.

https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator