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 ?

I'm no expert but I think whether that's worth doing or not depends on how long you are intending to be working/your age. If you paid that then you would need one year less before full pension. To be honest that 3 years will reduce to 2 anyway after April and the site is updated.

So effectively that would mean after April you'd need another full year of contibutions if you made up the shortfall or 2 if you didn't.

If you are going to be working anyway for at least 2 years then it would be pointless. If you are looking to stop work in the next 2 years then it might be worthwhile.

My DH has a few years where he has a shortfall but he has full pension now (to be paid at 67) as he's accumulated enough full years as well as those.

It's not like you stop paying NI when you reach the full amount of credits anyway.

BigBoysDontCry thanks so much for the explanation. I think I get it now! I also had another incomplete year back in the early 90s and it said it was too late to pay the shortfall as you only have 6 years to do so. Never realised this at the time of course!

The April deadline to buy back years more than six years ago has been extended to the end of July.

@BooseysMom you don’t need to catchup as you only need 3 more years before 2038.
So that’s all you need to complete.

Don't you get awarded pension contribution automatically when you get child benefit?

Yes, if you’ve registered for child benefit - even if you’ve chosen not to receive the money - you get national insurance credits which go towards your state pension contributions.

That’s just until the child is 12 years old though.

Thank you. If only I only had another 3 years to work before getting it! The pension age will be 68 or more by then.

We had retirement at 60, then 65/67 and now for anyone 40s and below 68 and not a murmur of protest, even via the ballot box, even when it was proposed to go to 70.

Compare to France.

No longer are govts servants of the people, we are their servants now.

@Howpo The UK doesn't seem to be out of step with much of Europe or other first world nations en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement_age

Honestly I’m sick of hearing people saying they claim UC because they are “better off.” Well they might be better off but the price is paid for by others. God if you can contribute to the system you absolutely should! It shouldn’t be a lifestyle choice. ( I’m not talking here about people who can’t work)

Clearly 68 vs 62 as in France at at present, is a huge difference and if you exclude private pensions, the UK's state pension is very poor.

Germany is 65 i'd take those 3 years, woudn't you? even better is Italy at 62, once again, compare UK to similar economies.

Life expectancy is falling, will the retirement age fall too?

Did you claim NICs contributions / childcare contributions during the period of time you were not working with young children at home? If not, that should reduce the amount you need to pay to make up NI gaps.

You have until 2038 to pay three years so my opinion is that I wouldn't bother paying £221.90 to make up the year 2014/5.

If you do....then £221.90 will get you about £5 a week in pension.... about £160 a year so an incredibly good investment if you were due to retire next year (for example). In your case it may not be ..... it all depends on your personal circumstances.

I know, it's unbelievable how the people of this country just lie down to be walked over! All I can think is that there must be a huge proportion of the population that isn't affected by it..hence years of Tory government.