Urgent warning to anyone those age 45 + re: National Insurance & state pension

[lechatnoir]

Apologies if this has already been posted but the deadline to plug any NI contribution gaps is closing on 5th April and gaps in contributions could have a significant impact on your state pension so well worth looking at.
It may require you to pay for top-up (apparently not always but not applicable to me) but I was shocked to find I had gaps of a few years even though was employed & paying tax & NI!

Details & instructions on here: www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/

Hmm that is indeed weird.

It really isn’t 35 years for all of us.
I have 37 years paid up and need two more ( this one we have nearly finished)and one more before I get the full new state pension. I then have to wait 6 more years to claim it.
if I continue to work I will have overpaid by several years.
I know what my state pension forecast is, and the years needed to pay I are different to people younger than me and to people older than me.
that was a fun and salutary evening in the pub as we all looked it up !

Mine says ive got 32 years of cobtributions but 6 years not full years. 13 years to make it up. Im 54

I find the record an interesting potted history 😅 I've got to contribute another 14 years over the next 29 years so that's fine for me but it's still interesting to see it. On mine it says I got 'credits' for several years when I would've been school (16/17/18 so GCSEs and then A-Levels) but not the four years whilst I was at uni. Why is that? Just curious...

That is very very odd! All the govt info online is 30 years’ full payments on old state pension and 35 years’ full payments on new. If they have that wrong, they need a word with their web team, citizen’s advice etc etc

That’s wrong. Each year you add towards the 35yrs adds £5.29 a week to your pension amount. So you would break even in 31 weeks. Actually in less time as in 4yrs the new state pension amount will be more than £185.15/week.

If you aren’t going to have at least one more full tax year worth of NI contributions, I’d pay the £160 (partial Yeats count for zero).

If you’re going by the projected pension amount on the gov website, it assumes you will be a FT PAYE employment making full NI contributions every tax year until your birthday where you reach state pension age.

But you’ve said you’re only working a few hours a week self-employed, so not sure if you realised that the Gov website pension forecast isn’t going to br accurate.

Have those of you requiring more years ever contracted out? Because that adds to the number of years needed.

Also a brief google tells me that there was a transition period around 2016 when the new SP came in which meant some people weren't on the blanket 30 or 35 years.

Am a little under 45. My NI forecast is saying I have 25 years contribution but only another 5 years to contribute. Should it be another 10?

It is indeed really odd, and seemingly unfair, but it is what it is and I shall be so happy to have paid enough in to take early retirement, in a year and a month 😄

Thank you. I am sure a lot of people will find this helpful.
I thought I would be OK as I was getting Child Benefit until recently.
I had no idea that the credits stopped when the child became 12. It used to be 16.
As I had 39 qualifying years before any credits I thought I had enough, as I kept hearing that 35 was the relevant number of years.
I don’t intend to pay to bring my pension up to the full amount though ( not actually sure I can). There have been so many changes over the years and I don’t trust the government not to reduce the overall sum anyway.

Yay!! Enjoy 😊

Money Helper page on pensions.

Just to say the relevant helplines are overloaded and I've been trying all week and can't get through - Future Pension Centre or HMRC. I'm beginning to take it personally - I can't even get in a queue and listen to some naff music!

We looked at this but it didn’t seem worth it. I suspect at the end of my working life I’d have enough contributions and was already near the maximum pension amount per month. To fill gaps it would cost £850 for each year missed!!!

I don't understand. Mine says I have no gaps in my record, and if I contribute for one more year I'll get £185 a week when I retire... I've got 30 years of full contributions and 21 years 'to contribute'. Does that mean I just have to work one year out of any of the next 21 years?

Apparently I'll get my pension in 2044 unless the government decides to change that to 2045. I might take the same approach with my mortgage company, just tell them I've decided to move the goalposts a year in my favour.

Thank you, I've just checked and although I can't claim for another 10 years, I do have my full 35 years and the full state pension amount. Reassuring to know.

@Onnabugeisha thank you so much for your information about the difference paying my final year of contributions would make, It just shows how misleading these things are. I will be applying your knowledge! Thanks 🙂

For those asking how to pay voluntary contributions for incomlete years over 6 years ago, you need to get an 18 digit reference number from HMRC which you then use for a bank transfer. To get this, you call 03002003500 say something like "voluntary NI contributions" listen to loads of prerecorded messages, then wait in a queue (mine was 1h12m yesterday). After the end of the tax year you can only go back 6 years, hence why lots of talk about this (and busy helpline) at the moment.

The exact same thing happened to me - had no idea I should apply for a benefit I wasn’t eligible for. Fast forward 10 years and that’s 10 years of missing NI credits 😡 Ridiculous and can’t be backdated even though I could easily prove the existence of said 10 year old!

I'm only 38 but my forecast says I've only got to contribute 30 years in total by 2052. I started work in 2003. I'm sure they'll move the goalposts a few times over the next 25 years though.

Thanks foobio, I waited half an hour last week and gave up. I’m happy to pay just need the reference number. Why on earth can’t they generate the number online. Madness!

Why on earth can’t they generate the number online. Madness!

Couldn't agree more!

I’m only 40 but thought I’d check anyway.

It says I have 23 years of full contributions, and one year where I did not contribute enough. But, like some other people, some of my years say things like self employment, 20 weeks. But also say they are full.

It only gives me an option to pay for the one year where I did not contribute enough (£634) but I’m a little concerned about the years that say they are full but don’t look like they are when you open the details?

Yes but do we really all expect to be working full time until our state pension date?

You don’t have to. Anyone earning £120-180 a week has their NI paid for by their co. You only need to work 12 hours on £10 an hour to get your NI credit for that year.

I’m 53, got 8 years till I reach 35 years of NI, then I’m done with it.

Absolutely!