@ukheather 5 December 2024 more from that month

Chronically Ill, Disabled, Struggling & Suffering In The UK I am a disabled and chronically ill person living in England who is literally struggling and suffering in the UK, but as I can’t work, I cannot leave, so I am stuck in a country that leave me living on a poverty income that will never increase. I honestly don’t feel safe in this country, but I can’t leave as I can’t work, and if you can’t work, you can’t just move to another country unless you’re a millionaire as they do what they want. I am trapped here, left to suffer on a poverty income. You may think that disabled people are looked after if they can’t work. You are wrong. Some are, but many fall through the gaps like me. I live on PIP alone at just £400 a month and cannot get a penny more, even though I qualify for the ESA support group (most disabled group), all because of national insurance. £400 a month isn’t enough for rent anywhere, let alone food, bills, gas, electric, water, council tax etc. But I have no choice as that is all I can get. I can’t get the money from the main disability benefit in the UK which is ESA, purely because of national insurance (NI) contributions. I worked full time, then couldn’t physically do that anymore, so instead of quitting, I went part time. THAT is why I can’t get ESA. Working part time! Working part time means I didn’t have to pay national insurance, as you don’t pay it if you earn under a certain amount which I was under as I could only do 16 hours a week. So I didn’t have to pay national insurance. That means I can NEVER EVER get ESA. You need to have 2 years full national insurance contributions from work in the last 2 years from applying for ESA. So as I didn’t earn enough, I didn’t pay it, so don’t qualify for ESA. I DO get credits only ESA which is national insurance credits ONLY, that are so you can get a pension when you are elderly. I do have more than 2 years full of national insurance contributions, just not in the last 2 years as I physically couldn’t work enough hours to qualify to pay it! Why isn’t that enough? Why should it have to be within the last 2 years? I am chronically ill so I had to reduce how much I could work, that isn’t my fault! I had to do the exact same process for credits only ESA as everyone else does applying for ESA, same medical assessments, same questionnaire filled out, and I even had to be assigned to a group as ESA as working group (those who can work) and support group (those who can’t work), and I am in the support group. All that hard work and all I get is national insurance credits. I am in the most severely disabled category, yet I don’t get any money, just national insurance credits towards my pension. That is it! So basically I can’t get the money from ESA, even though I qualify for the support group, all because I pushed myself to work part time instead of quitting totally as I thought that is what you are supposed to do. Work until you can’t even get out of the door. But that went against me. To make it even worse, initially I was told that after 2 full years of national insurance credits from the credits only ESA, I would be able to use those credits towards getting the money from ESA, but that isn’t correct, so either they lied OR it changed mid-way, but either way, that is not the case. I have spoken to everyone and anyone for advice and they all say the same. I cannot get a penny more. I have spoken to many advice centres/charities, DWP many times, my MP many times, even parliament replied to me via my MP multiple times saying them same. They all say you have to fully qualify, and the national insurance is non-negotiable. As I fall through the gaps, only a few hundred people in the UK get credits only ESA, so it is very unknown. It isn’t something you apply for, you apply for regular ESA and if you don’t have the national insurance contributions, they put you on credits only ESA. So I have to live on PIP alone which is £400 a month. I also have no relatives alive. I cannot get any other benefits either due to my living situation, as I can’t afford to live alone. I live in a place that has severe black mould and flooding whenever it rains, but can’t leave as I can’t afford rent anywhere. Catch 22. I haven’t had heating in 3 years, soon 4 years, due to the cost. I don’t eat much either. What are you supposed to do when you own government won’t look after you and you can’t work? I have reached out to news outlets many times, but no one replies. There is only a few hundred of us on credits only ESA, so you would think that news outlets would find this story interesting as it is so different. There isn’t many disabled people in my situation and I really wanted to raise awareness about it, but when the news outlets prefer posting pointless news, there isn’t much I can do. *(If you know of any reporters, please let them know about my post.)* So I am stuck in this country, living on a poverty income for the rest of my life. I can never afford to rent anywhere and only will get more money when I get a pension, many decades away! I just want to be able to get what I should be getting. ESA. How else am I supposed to survive? Being severely disabled from chronic illnesses, should be enough! I shouldn’t have to have a certain amount of national insurance contributions from work within the last 2 years alone! I HAVE 2 years of full national insurance contributions, but not in the last 2 years. Why isn’t that enough? I would love to raise awareness about this, so please share my post and if you know any reporters, I would appreciate you telling them as maybe they are interested as this is a unique situation due to how little of us are in this same boat from falling through the gaps.