To remind you to check your pension contributions before April 2025.

[AlisonWhatIsTheMatter]

I’ve checked mine and even though I was advised to contract out of SERPS in the late 80s, (currently resting in Phoenix Life) I’m not missing any years of contributions ( I think) my forecast on GOV.UK states I cannot improve my forecast anymore.

I was reminded to check again last night after watching Martin Lewis.

Just a reminder to check your contributions before April 2025 otherwise you might not get another chance to ‘plug in’ any gaps.

I’ve attached my GOV.UK forecast so you can compare what yours states.

If only retirement age was still at 60! I’d have 5 years to go. 😩

Yes, even if the state pension stays at the age now you'd be fine with the amount of time you have to make up those years. I have 3 missed years for uni (which I can't now repay as pre 2006) but having worked since graduating and now in my early 40s I've got 9 years til I qualify and 25 years til I can claim it...which feels like an impossibly long time away!

Check online where it shows the years and see if it says complete next to the year. But since it’s saying you can’t improve your forecast, you would presume you’ve paid in enough years. I get mine in 3 years time and mine is saying the same, I know I’ve worked enough years since I was 16, but I last worked in 2018, so I’m just hoping they don’t change the rules again.

If one opted out of SERPS for 2 or 3 years early in ones career, but still have 35yrs + of full (non opted out) contributions, is full pension without deductions still payable?

I applied to pay a years NI to increase my state pension in January 2023.
i was 66 at the end of that year.
I finally got a reply and was told to send the money in October 2023.
The cheque was cashed within a week.
The back pension and new rate were not applied until September 2024.

So if you do pay back years be warned you may not see it reflected on your forecast for quite a while.

thought I was OK until I noticed this paragraph at the bottom. As if waiting til 67 wasn't grim enough, it could now be longer 😫

Good luck with that. When I was paying my additional contributions, it took 4/5 weeks to update, not 4/5 days…

It means you need 5 more years of contributions. As long as you meet the 5 mire years you will then get your full state pension when you retire at 67/68

No you can’t alas. We moved here in 2008 and late last year I specifically researched this exact question. When you are trying to backfill previous years, You need to prove residency in the country (if you’re not born in U.K) for the years you’re trying to backfill.

That means putting in your date of arrival in the start of the process, and the gov website was very clear in saying you couldn’t apply to backfill years prior to your arrival in the country.

this does makes sense … as if you were working in another country, you’d be contributing to that pension system, not the uk one.

Probably not as long as that is the only year with a gap. You have 30 more years ahead of you to make contributions.

I believe so. I was advised to contract out of SERPS and this is currently invested via Phoenix Life. My contributions are still as posted in my OP. Have you checked on the GOV.UK pension forecast?

Yes because if you complete them they will count towards the number you need a full contribution from to get a full pension- currently 33 full contribution years- so you'll have 14 complete years and 19 complete years still to pay. If you don't complete them you them, you will have 9 years that count and 24 to pay full contributions from. Surely it is worth paying an extra £800 for a full year than starting again from nothing to pay full years?

You don't need to do anything other than continue to pay NI contributions presuming that you earn enough to do so. If it says that you can't improve your forecast it means you have paid enough year for State Pension. You do however have to continue to pay NI until SP age.

It’s going up to 68, not sure exactly when.

Changes to state pension have to have a very long lead in time so it's unlikely that any change would affect you with under 20 years to go.

@Staringatthemoon @Yogurtraisins

My understanding is that you MAY need more than 35 years of NI contributions to qualify for the full state pension amount. If some of your working years were with a company who ‘contracted out’, you may not have paid the full contributions for those years. If you’re unsure if this is your situation (I know people who weren’t aware whether their employing company had contracted out) you need to access the gov.uk site by requesting a login, as described upthread, and they tell you exactly how much pension you’re due and where the gaps are. If you’re unsure about whether paying for a gap year is worth it, their phone helpline lets you talk to someone who works it out for you and advises whether it’s worthwhile paying for gaps (it’s a free service). I’ve had to pay 40 yrs of contributions to get the full pension, DH has had to pay 41.

www.gov.uk/contracted-out/how-contracting-out-affects-your-amount

I worked in the public sector so was contracted out of the full state pension in favour of the public sector pension.

I stopped work early (before 60) and although I have the required number of years to get a full state pension, my actual forecast is less than that due to having been contracted out.

I need to pay 3 years of class 3 contributions as a lump sum to bring my state pension up to the max (class 3 NI is what you pay if you're not working). If I do this, I'll recoup that lump sum in just over 3 years. (And hopefully I'll live longer than that, fingers crossed!)

So if you can do it, and your figures are anything like mine, then yes, it's worth doing.

Yes, that means you don't have to (and can't) do anything right now. There are no missing years which you are able to top up right now.

It doesn't mean you will definitely get the full state pension, even if the law remains unchanged. It does mean that you are on track to get full state pension, either by working enough years in future or buying extra years in future. Count up the number of full years in your record to see whether you already have 35, or if not, how many more years you'd need to work in order to reach 35.

If you don't end up working enough years to get the full state pension, you'll want to consider buying extra years. But that isn't something you are able to do in advance.

I’m 43 next week.

It will say in your forecast if you have enough years. If you do then it will be paid at the rate of the New State Pension which will also be on the forecast. This obviously increases each year as well.

Please don't just pay, if you're not 100% certain that you need to.

I phoned HMRC about this last week and was strongly advised not to pay my missing years until I'd spoken to someone at the Future Pensions department.

If you are likely to be working, and paying a stamp, for the full 35 years required then it's pointless paying for a few missing years. If you get to say 58 and you've paid all 35 you will still have to pay NI on your earnings. The deduction doesn't stop just because you've enough qualifying years for a state pension.

Thanks for this OP.

I've just checked mine.
I have 4 payable gaps but the forecast says I will get the max amount per week £220.21 so is there any point paying the gaps? They're a lot of money that I don't have lying about.

Not really because as long as she is working for the future years she will still have to pay NI contributions so will meet the criteria with what she is paying. No point paying for 1 past year if you still have plenty of years left to work and contribute.

I can see whatever government increasing state pension age to 70 in the next 10 years.
I can also see state pensions undergoing massive change so that they become means tested.

I don't think either will happen quickly. They have to give people a chance to prepare for those changes which takes years and will require a different approach to saving and investment for individuals so that they do not end up significantly worse off.

But it will come and it is a disgrace. We have amongst the very worst state pension levels in Europe and are one of the wealthiest countries. People pay into the state pension their whole working life- and it is 1/3rd of the minimum living wage. Many also pay into employment/private pensions to back up a basic living standard when they are pensioners.

It is the vast numbers of people who do not work, who live on benefits, contribute nothing to the state and leech money out of it who create our issues with the state pension. We can not keep carrying these people.

But you can't opt out of paying NICs, so you don't get any kind of benefit for "finishing" your 33 years early. And at 30 you have over 30 years to go before you can claim the pension anyway, so plenty of time to make up the 24 years needed. And policies can change within that time so I wouldn't say it's clearcut to pay the £800 per year. (As I understand it!) Personally if I was 30 and had some gaps I don't think I'd pay them,

Not really because as long as she is working for the future years she will still have to pay NI contributions so will meet the criteria with what she is paying. No point paying for 1 past year if you still have plenty of years left to work and contribute.

I agree, you are potentially paying double