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 ?

Don't you think it would be unfair to people who paid full NI, who didn't have money going into a private pension, if you got the same state pension as them even though you have the benefit in your private pension?

I am 55 with 37 full years of contributions. I expect to lose some due to being contracted out. But if I don't retire until 67, I've got another 12 years of non contracted out contributions. I wonder if they will offset my contracted out years.

Work doesn't pay.

Making up missing years is very good value if you can afford it. It cost me about £740 per year, which gives to about £5 a week more (so about £250 per year). This was a few years ago, but basically you only have to live 3 - 4 years to be in profit. There is no way putting the same amount of money into a private pension / ISA could come close to that. But beware....you can only top up missing years over the past 6 years.

@ancientgran We were not told we would have less state pension and we had no choice to pay more. I would have if it had been a choice. The pension company took the NI not me. And the government said the NI was to encourage people to take out private pensions.

Most people on benefits are in work - including nurses and teachers.

Depression is a very real and serious illness. I'm sure you didnt intend to be so ableist.

I always understood the concept was that the state pension is for all, and everyone gets the same. But some people might want to pay extra into a private or work pension to top that up. Thats not unreasonable, they're still paying NI at this point but not benefiting from it. No one is arguing (I think) for less pension for others, but simply that they get their full pension. Thats only fair

looks like I’ve been contracted out ffs…

i am actually debating on the logic of working, I should go part time claim benefits and still have more than I earn now
what a crock of shit

earn to much to get help but still don’t earn enough to live what a fucking joke

Sounds to me like the issue is with not knowing about being contracted out or understanding the implications of this? Rather than with there rightfully being a support system for those who CANNOT work. I don't understand why people think it's so easy to scam the system . When I was in need of major surgery and lost my work because of it, the whole process of claiming was terrifying and one of the most stressful situations I've ever been in! Not to mention the fear of being judged by others who didn't know my circumstances but I'm certain there were gossips. I'm bloody glad my stamp was paid while I was out - for me and all who come after me and so should we all - it can happen to anyone.

Surely this cannot be right @Springtimesoo If you haven't qualified after 35 years then you must have had some years when you earned low/too little to pay N.I. ... Because I had a full pension, when I checked it at 48 and had worked 30 years. (About half of that part time, though still decent pay, and reasonable N.I. contributions.) It makes no sense (to me) that you don't have a full pension.

Also, as for your friend, don't hate the player, hate the game. She's done nothing wrong. But YANBU for being irked by it.

@Riddlydiddlydee Nobody was told at the time. And you did not have a choice if you had certain private pensions. You either had no private pension or you had to accept being contracted out. The government at the time explicitly said less NI was to encourage people to take out a private pension.
I think people who are younger probably do not understand. We had no real choice.

It's younger women who only need 35 qualifying years

If you are a woman born before 1950, you need 39 qualifying years.

You should get full NI contribution credit for the two years you were a SAHM with small children, did you factor that in?

The option to buy extra years to maximise your pension is a brilliant bargain investment, well worth doing ; so if you can find 3K, grab the chance. It will pay for itself in a few years and then you'll enjoy that extra pension all your life.

www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/how-its-calculated

I always thought that if you took your employers pension then it was your SERPs pension that got affected not your main state pension. This is why Im surprised by this.

I will have worked 45 years by the time I retire but will not get a full state pension. All but 3 of those years full time. How is that right??

Yes, they may well do. The HMRC site should tell you how many more years of contributions you need to pay to get a full state pension and how many years you have left to do so.

Because you contracted out of SERPS and so paid a lower rate of NI.

That may well be the case and it doesn't sound right at all - but that's where the focus needs to be, looking at the issues for that group of people, not taking away more from those in unrelated situations and rightfully eligible for support.

Benefits aren't that great

I did not contract out. I paid a private pension and the pension provider did this. I would have stayed in SERPS if I could have. I could not unless I did not take out a private pension. We had no choice. We were not even told our state pension would be reduced as a result.

Agree - utterly soul destroying. As is being clinically depressed or looking after someone who is.

That's not how I understand it, you get a credit for every wage or benefit such as job seekers per month and those credits are used to make up yer pension. Irrelevant of how much money, I would talk to HMRC

You need to contact HMRC to get an 18 digit reference number. Took me 90 minutes on hold yesterday, but quick to sort out once I got through. Make sure you have your NI number to hand.

I have 39 years of contributions and by the time I retire I will have 50 years of contributions. I already have contributed enough to get the full state pension. I will have a small private pension and hopefully some savings.

However my recently retired friend who has never bothered with a private pension and has worked on and off over the years also gets the full state pension. She also gets her rent paid. She has no savings as she has spent every penny she has earned on expensive holidays and designer clothes and handbags. That includes an inheritance of over £150k. All spent.

She gets more from the state than I will although I will have contributed much more. The system is not fair and doesn't encourage people to save for retirement.

It really does you know. Sadly I'm too late to have it work for me - can't even get pip because I've only got cancer and a couple of autoimmune diseases.

I have no understanding of these replies.

I have just rechecked mine on the Gov.UK website.

I am currently 58
I have 32 years paid in full
I have 8 years where I have not paid enough (worked overseas in a non reciprocal country)

I opted out until that option was withdrawn. So 1996 until it changed.
have been paying a civil service pension, so opted out when I could.

My current state pension forecast is £167.10
It will be at the max if I pay another 8 years.

I do not understand your forecast OP. Have they been paying your NI to the correct NI number ?