How many NI payments must one have made in the 6 months before making a claim in order to be eligible for ESA?

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Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

How many NI payments must one have made in the 6 months immediately prior to making a claim for ESA in order to be eligible for ESA?

I'm thinking in particular here of the genuinely ill who are wrongly declared fit to work by Atos. They then have to apply for a reconsideration which can be of indeterminate length, say a year for example. During this period they get no NI stamp paid unless their eventual appeal is successful, increasingly less likely now as there's no legal aid available for them. Once their reconsideration is turned down and they apply to appeal then the NI stamp is paid again while they're waiting for the tribunal appearance and decision. What's going to happen to someone genuinely ill who has their appeal say a couple of months after a lengthy reconsideration period and fails it; would they then be denied ESA on the grounds they didn't have enough NI paid in the last six months?

Yours faithfully,

Bill Kruse

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Mr Kruse

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<<Response to FOI 1253 & 1254.pdf>>

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