To be shocked if this is true . State pension and benefits …?

[Springtimesoo]

I have worked all my life apart from
4 year degree( 3 year plus prof qualification )
and
a period at home when I had 2 dc under two and we could not afford nursery fees.

have just checked my pension forcast Which says that although I have paid 35 years in full , i will not get a full pension .

it seems that to get a full pension i need to pay just over 3k .

my friend , who is by choice long term unemployed. ( long story) says that she will get a full pension as she is on benefits .

how is that fair ? Its not true is it ?

If it makes you feel any better
im on benefits due to severe disability and have been my entire adult life, I’d love to work but sadly it’s not an option

So in theory, my full contributions should have been paid for the last 18 years
bur I recently checked my record and actually only have 9 years of full contributions

I’m having to apply to get them to look at it again because it’s incorrect
but even if for one more year my contribution wasn’t recorded correctly I could’ve gotten my pension age and then been entitled to nothing at all.

I won’t be the only one, so you may well find that people who think they’ve had their contributions paid by benefits have a nasty shock coming someday.

I did pay into another pension and that's why I was contracted out of a state pension. How is that fair.
Well you either paid less NI, or the difference was paid into an additional pension. It's to do with SERPs.
SERPs was a state pension that would be paid in addition to the standard state pension, and it was going to be a final salary (defined benefits) scheme.
If you (or your employer's pensions scheme) decided to opt out of SERPs, you could have the value of contributions put into the employer's (or your own) private scheme.
In 2016 government decided SERPs would cost too much, so they increased the standard pension but stopped anyone new from contracting out.
So you haven't lost out.

I contracted out in the late 80’s I’m confused about that side of things tbh, but as far as I can tell I’m paid up and don’t have anything more to contribute?

I’ve checked my years and all are full bar 1987.

I presume if I needed to contribute it would tell me here? Can anyone advise?

Fair enough, but I wasn't replying to you.

It's not true to say noone could opt out, we definitely could.

Maybe you have a miselling case?

I agree with you moonicorn, there is zero incentive to work these days. I can see why a lot of people chose not to or to work part time and get top ups from the government (that obviously come from the taxpayer)

This really depends where you live though. If you live in a relatively affluent area; very few people who are of working age will be out of work - and those who are will be out of work will be less likely to be on “benefits”, whereas if you live in a more deprived area which includes social housing, the prevalence of those who are long-term unemployed will be higher. It’s over 10% in many constituencies

I checked mine as in NHS pension scheme and have been part time but mine shows the full amount.

Seriously?

There are always going to be anomalies. Someone who had twelve children, a chronic illness, had sometimes been on benefits and had a low wage will have taken more out of the system than me. So what? Is the answer that we want people to be on the breadline?

The idea of the tax and NI system is to have a safety net for people. We don't get back what we put in, that would be ridiculous. In which case people with highly taxed jobs who had privately educated children and private healthcare would be entitled to massive pensions.

I can't bear all the jealousy and me, me, me about all of this. If we have private pensions and full state pensions we're unlikely to be poverty stricken. And if we can afford our own properties then we probably don't need housing benefit on top.

It's not clear if the OP is about to retire but if not they have time to build up national insurance contributions towards their pension before retirement.

I don’t think it is just fine to have had a disability or illness that hasn’t allowed someone to work. Or someone who has been a carer. It is not an easy life, most won’t own their own property, had holidays, buy nice things.

You should be better off as you have a private pension, the one you were contracted out of. I do have sympathy for people who are in your position but I think you should be better off.

I just checked mine, the information is pretty clear. I have a figure of what I will get if i stop making contributns now, the maximum I can get and how many more years contributions I need to make to get that to get that and the implications of a small amont of time I spent in a scheme that contracted me out of SERPS.

I think not allowing people to starve or live in unheated homes is a moral issue.

I don't think it's so much not understanding but more that we weren't told, or it was not clearly communicated to us, which is much the same as the complaint of the waspi women (of which I am one). Now many might say it was our responsibility as adults to check it out but you would need some understanding to ask the questions. I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent, have a professional degree but when enrolled in the NHS pension scheme I definitely was not given any information about being contracted out of state pension. I only discovered that 13 years later when I decided to take my pension early🤷

Everyone's pensions are different my husband gets basic pension plus graduated retirement benefit and SERPS all of which will go up by 10.1% in April The maximum you can get with SERPS now is an extra £204.68 a week making a possible total of £360.88 (at 2023/2024 rates) graduated retirement benefit is extra, DH state pension will be just over £320 a week from April, I am on the new scheme I get the new full pension plus a protected payment for the SERPS I paid into pre 2016 both of which will have gone up by 10.1% haven't had my letter yet but I think I will get about £225 a week plus I contracted out for 5 years so I have a private pension that replaces the SERPS I lost which is £200 a month before tax

You should get full pension with 35 years of contributions I would think. I agree that it is ridiculous how it all works though. People who have barely worked get pension credit topped up to the same as someone on full pension. If entitled to even a pound of guarantee pension credit you get full rent and council tax paid plus all the other perks that go with pension credit - cost of living payments, warm home discounts, free dental and eye care etc. Yet save into a small private pension and it can take you over the limit and effectively penalise you. The system is all wrong. I am a benefits advisor so it is my job to help people claim what they are entitled to but when I see the unfairness of it sometimes it makes me cross. I helped a bloke a few months ago who had spent most of his life travelling around the world ( Uk citizen), had barely worked her yet came back when he hit retirement age as he was virtually homeless in the country he had been living in for years. Lo and behold was able to claim £182 a week pension credit, all . Compare that situation to someone who has lived and worked here all their life with a small private pension which takes them over the threshold for any help and I can see the unfairness.

All of those who where contracted out etc. Im assuming you would have had an information pack or similar... or did you believe you would get the full state pension plus the pension you put aside by paying less national insurance. I'm not clued up on it all so.im assuming that's what the contracted out is all about. That would have been very generous but what government is that generous!? It would have prompted me to ask more questions

Retire after 2016, and your state pension (if you get the full one) is automatically about £50 (£185) more than older retirees, (£141) even men who retired at 65, get. I was a SAHM for a few years in the 70s before NI credits were applied. I then worked in low paid, part time jobs and paid a reduced rate NI contribution, then when I got a better job, with a pension scheme, I was contracted out. I wish I’d been more savvy, thank goodness my kids are!

My state pension is less than £90 a week. I paid into an occupational scheme, for a small pension, which takes me over the limit for pension credit, or any means tested benefits. if I’d never or rarely worked, never paid into a pension, the government would be forking out a lot more.

www.gov.uk/state-pension/how-much-you-get

I definitely was not given any information about being contracted out of state pension

@Mossstitch You weren't contracted out of 'state pension', you were contracted out of the 'additional' state pension element because you were paying into your employer's pension scheme and therefore didn't need the extra element.

Surely the years you've claimed child benefit paid your stamp when you were at home?

Similar here - 36, full degree, 2 kids, 20 years

my friend , who is by choice long term unemployed. ( long story) says that she will get a full pension as she is on benefits

No she won't. She will get universal credit or whatever it's called then.

You need to pay NI credits to get a state pension.

Your friend is misinformed.

This is the first time I’ve checked mine and it’s saying I’m on track for the full amount as long as I pay 11 more years of full contributions. I’m so confused.

How is it possible that I have 21 years of full contribution plus 1 year of not enough when:
I’ve only been working full time since 19 years ago with 1 year off (not on benefits)
I worked part-time for 2 before that but absolutely wouldn’t have made the minimum per year

Aside from the fact that I’m not sure about the 22 years, 21+11 doesn’t add up to 35…

oh it definitely does, through my work i meet many families who have never worked through choice. People who can but do not work should not be entitled to any benefits.

She will claim Pension credit once state pension age, alongside housing benefit etc if required.

Mine also doesn't stack up to 35- I've only got 11 years to go for full and 20 years of contributions. I think it's to do with the starting amount which was carried over from the old state pension

I am also completely confused. I'm very similar to you but 24 years full and 8 more years needed to get full pension. I've always worked but part time low paid for most of it around the children.