Charlotte

I was in LCWRA IB ESA group from 2018 until 2023 when I got married and moved in with my husband and had to cancel my claim. I receive standard PIP. I’m not eligible for new style ESA because I had not worked in the last 2 years when my ESA claim ended in July 2023 but I received NI credits for having LCWRA whilst on IB ESA. Following closure of my claim I had no income other than PIP. I have tried to work despite LCWRA which has been a huge struggle. I have only been able to do a very small amount of temporary ad-hoc agency work. There have been many weeks in the past year I have not been able to work at all. For the small amount of work I have done, I have earned below the lower earnings limit and I have not received any NI contributions. It’s now been over a year since my ESA claim was closed and I’m concerned about my national insurance record being empty for the past year. Does ESA continue to pay “credits only” after a claim has been closed? If not, is there any way I could somehow backdate the credits to protect my NI record?