No worries, since there are tons of threads on these forums to search through. You probably missed this similar thread from today from another player here--> https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/power-play-tickover.631271/Sorry if this has been answered but I cannot find it if it has.
Unfortunately , you were wrong in this particular case. See below....I have just over 91K merits but stuck at 0 rank.
It was my understanding (probably wrong) that I did not have to do the side missions, is this wrong?
Yes, as noted within the ingame mail that should be in your inbox , you must do the FIRST 5 Weekly Assignments to completion ONCE to unlock Ranking progress.Do I need to complete all 5 before my merits apply?