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 ?

So have you got a private pension, a pension from your employment? If so were you contracted out? If you were you weren't paying full NI and you should get the benefit in your private pension.

Similar to me. I’m 41, was a full time student for 5 years, have DC, work, have a disability, am also knackered! I have 21 years full contributions so far from working. I’m 26 years off pension age and need another 14 years for maximum state pension.

Worth being aware that you’re credited automatically a full year of contributions even if you’re not working if you have a child under 12, as long as you’re registered for child benefit (even if you don’t claim it as a higher rate taxpayer).

Same thing happened to me @Springtimesoo - I had 38yrs paying in and was sure I was due full pension - got a real shock when I checked my forecast - I was "missing" payments due to being contracted out "back in the day" (which we had no control over!). I paid a similar amount - around £3k - to top up. I worked out that so long as I lived another 3yrs I would get that back in the increased pension. Only 2 more yrs to go!

This. I am lucky that I have been able to work all my life (and have also been part contracted out). It's deeply depressing to read that some people just can't understand or appreciate that there are complex and myriad reasons why people are on benefits and that 'scrounger' doesn't cover it.

Which would be topped up with Pension Credit.

I'm struggling to understand why you would want pensioners struggling financially, often because of no fault of their own. People with health conditions, disabilities, caring responsibilities etc. all get benefits. You want them to starve in old age? Lovely.

Maybe you could campaign to bring back work houses instead op.

Except for women who paid the reduced stamp, what used to be referred to as the married woman's stamp as they got no credits for child benefit (or family allowance as it was) if they had been paying the reduced stamp before leaving work or were still working then those years didn't count.

I find it unfair that people who've contracted out and had their NI reduced for part of their working life can still get the same state pension as someone who's paid full NI - AND get their employer's pension as well.

Unemployment is at 3.7% op which is the lowest its been since about 1974. There aren't swathes of people not working

As others have said you will have been contracted out and paid reduced Nat Ins contributions for some of these years, this is what you will have to make up in order to get the full state pension.

When you retire, along with your state pension you will also get the private pension that you have paid into and that part of your Nat Ins went into. Your private pension will be higher than it would have been without this.

Your overall pension will be much higher than hers.

She will get the full state penion but nothing else.

I am in a similar state except that, even with extra payments, I was still unable to get full state pension - although not much short. My private pensions are however very small at around £200 per month.

It is very annoying but that £200 is my disposable income. I could just about survive on the state pension, the extra couple of hundred a month covers a holiday and any other extras. I am pretty sure your private pension will be higher.

I have a friend similar to yours - except mine and her husband are both on disability payments alongside a full pension. I wouldn't change places with them but they have a much higher disposable income, despite neither of them working (officially) for well over 30 years.

I've worked 44 years without any break in NI contributions(no children or unemployment) and was public sector so contracted out under the old system.

There's not enough years between the new system being introduced and state pension age (after which you can't make any more NI contributions, even voluntary ones). So even if I pay a whole extra year of voluntary payments - despite having 44 under my belt already - I still am going to get less pension than people who have never paid anything, or paid less than I.

Just to be clear, I am not knocking people on benefits, but there is just something so unfair about 44 years of paying in when you only need 35, plus a year's extra voluntary and STILL getting less than a full pension.

After April this year - you can only still ‘buy’ years going forward until retirement age but each year has a cut off date for buying the contributions.

Until April though you can go back six years. That’s the deadline that people who are retiring soon might need to meet if they want to top up.

It costs about 800+ per year and each year gets you about 5 pounds per week extra on your pension- so as a PP said make the individual calculation about what gives you the most benefit - topping up the state pension or private investment.

I need another 17 years and as I live abroad now I will have to top up if I want the full pension on retirement - I’m not doing the missed years before April but I’ve got enough time if I start topping up from next year. Haven’t decided yet if it’s going to be worth it.

The good news for expats is your pension is paid to you even if you don’t come back to the UK to live.

There are two types of state pension scheme. The original one meant you needed 45 years of contributions and when the new one came in 2016 anything built up in that was taken across to the new scheme which only needs 35 years to get full pension. However if you were in a contracted out scheme this can affect the amount you receive but theoretically your company pension should have been boosted instead of the state one.

You do not say how old you are but unless you are coming up to retirement I would not buy NI credits as you presumably have time to make them up. I took early retirement and had worked solidly since 1977 or had child benefit credits but in spite of 44 years full contributions my COPE meant I was short 3 years of getting a full state pension. In my case I applied for childcare credits for looking after grandchildren for several years which has boosted my state pension without paying for extra credits. Is that a possibility?

i'm pretty sure that by the time I get there they will.have scrapped the be state pension or it will be offset against your private pension.

I'm not going to fret about it.

What should your forecast be if you are getting the full amount? I have no idea if I have been contracted out or not...

Hilariously ironic given OP (working full time) is paying benefits for people who don’t want to work because they’re ‘depressed’. Who is in the ‘work house’ in that situation?

Can you get Pension Credit?

It will be me and many, many others like OP who are struggling as we won't get a full state pension due to being unknowingly contracted out whereas those on benefits will be doing just fine! But that's okay is it?! Alright then.

I'm struggling to understand why you would want pensioners struggling financially, often because of no fault of their own. People with health conditions, disabilities, caring responsibilities etc. all get benefits. You want them to starve in old age? Lovely.

Being depressed though? Really? You should be able to live for free off others because of that? And workers should be happy to provide it as they go without?

I will have worked 43 years by the time I retire and will not get a full state pension all because I paid into a private pension. And as I am a low earner my private pension is so small I wish i had not bothered.

I started work at 17, trained as a nurse which was classified as working as in the seventies we actually did work as ward skivvies for 48 hours a week. I had 7 years off to have three kids. Returned to work and moved to France in my late fifties. I was told I had insufficient years working, 34. I returned from France and have worked another ten years. I qualified for my pension several years ago. Im still working at 68, and no doubt will continue for some time to come. The pension is pathetic. Pretty much lowest in the EU in comparison to house prices and cost of living. Ive encouraged all my kids to leave the UK.

Exactly. There is a moral difference in money earned and money given no matter how much some posters want to pretend there isn’t.

The fact that you've put a mental health issue in inverted commas and that you think going to work is equal to what people went through living in a work house tells me all I need to know about your limited understanding. That you find it hilarious isn't a good look either.

I still need 7 years but have just discovered one year is only needing 15.70 to top it up to count … but can’t figure out how to pay it

How?

Universal credit is less than £400 a month..You would make more than that in a week as a teacher.