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/

Well exactly, I find it all quite alarming. And then the rise in age to access even your private pension. Not sure how we can financially plan against a moving target. I'm inclined not to top up my contributions but will think some more on it.

God it’s a faff. Found the relevant form and then had to dig out paperwork, only to realise that although we applied all those years back for the transfer, they didn’t transfer the credits for one of the tax years and technically we should have reapplied (no time limit given). The current form says you have to apply within a year of the tax year for which you want the transfer. However there is box where you can explain why you didn’t do that, and they ‘might’ accept your reason.

Yes, all of us below 50 or so particularly are all too familiar with moving goalposts, and are none too trusting of government promises. Have a close look through your record though, and see if there are any years where you are only short by small amounts. I’ve got a couple of years like that: I wouldnt bother topping up for whole missing years even if I did have spare cash.

Years ago the government paid the NI for further education students aged up to ?19. This might be the extra years you have. Mine was paid at this age.

I'm the same age and same pension forecast. Mine is finished at the end of this financial year as it's showing one more year. Hopefully another 6 weeks to go.

I truly do not understand why some are having to work more than 35 years and others much less.

But if you are not working later you can then pay those years as missing years. If you pay the missing years now and end up going over thr 35 it’s money down the drain

Thank you OP! Need to check DH's too.

I have all my recent years covered by carers allowance. Phew!

Can I check please - is it the future pensions forecast team who give you the 18 digit reference? There’s nothing on their menu so I selected item 2 query but it just cuts off. Should I just call HMRC?

I don’t know without looking at what they see, but I would suspect that those who have to work more than 35yrs have years with only partial NI contributions due to low income or a gap in employment where they did not claim JSA. Partial years like this count for ZERO towards the 35yrs. You have to top them up to be a full year of contributions via voluntary class 3 contributions to get them to count as a year towards the 35yrs.

I would also suspect that those having to work less than 35yrs have years with NI credits- so credits from child benefit, or carers allowance or ESA- each year of not working where you are off due to young child, caring, or long term sick you get a credit which is equivalent to a full years NI contributions via work.

You get the reference # from HMRC.

HMRC tel# to call is 0300 200 3500

It was asked above but I don’t think anyone replied. The last couple of years I’ve been SAHM and the younger kids weren’t registered for CB so I’ve had no contributions although I should have done. Have now registered for CB for them but is there anyway I can plug the gap without paying? CB itself is only backdated 3 months but I’m not after the CB, just the NICs. Thanks 🙏🏽

Thank you for posting this. It got me on to looking at topping up my SP, and it's in train now.

I am 50. I have some gaps but it's saying I need 8 more years for full pension having 29 years full credit. My gaps are well over 23 years ago and so I'm just going to work on the assumption that I will work another 8 years.

For those who are over 45, you need more or less than 35 years depending on your NI record before 2016. This is just about us older workers. You can need up to 40 years if you are a lower earner before the new system comes in. And if your previous pension has opted out the second state pension.

It's all a mess. I looked at mine and I can't add more years because I have a full record from 2006. However, I need to work till 63 to gain the full state pension.

@skilikeagirl you can't back date that except paying for voluntary national insurance contributions. That's what Martin Lewis is asking older workers to do. However, if you are young, you may have enough years to reach 35 without paying voluntary contributions. You'll need to use your own record and make a judgement.

Yes. I probably expect to be working full time beyond my state pension age. Can't imagine I'm alone in that.

I'm 51 and haven't worked since 1997 when I had DD. I was diagnosed with a chronic illness in 2012 and have been unable to work since. I can't afford to plug any gaps.

DH is 12 years younger than me and has worked all his life (but doesn't have a workplace pension).

I won't get any state pension, will I? We're fucked, aren't we?

If you have claimed Child Benefit since 1997 that will account for a good few years' credits (16-19?) @SproutingAbout. I'd go on and check the state pension calculator and maybe have a word with the CAB. Claiming certain benefits for ill health gives you NI credits also.

www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/

Sorry, first link was meant to be this:

www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Don't know why that doesn't work. It's Dot gov dot uk forward slash check hyphen state hyphen pension

What if you're on disability benefits and have been for a number of years?

It really is 35 years to get the maximum new state pension, it doesn’t matter how old you are (as long as you were born after those 1951/53 dates)
Mine doesn't say 35! I have 30 years' contributions paid already and it says I have a other two years to go - so 32 years (I'm 52).

I've already contributed over 35 years (I'm in my 50s). By the time I retire assuming I work until state pension age I'll have contributed over 45 years. I had 2 years when I wasn't working and retrained - I asked for an NI holiday and was told I had to continue to pay my NI unless I signed up for Jobseeker's Allowance (which I didn't want to do as I wasn't looking for a job!). It's a very unfair system that only allows those claiming benefits to get NI credits. I didn't want to falsely claim Job Seekers allowance but could have done without paying for those 2 years.