My employer did not pay my NIC. What recourse do I have?

[InNeedofAdvice1234]

I arrived to the UK legally in October 2003.

I signed a contract to be an assistant manger for a nationwide chain of shops in December 2003.

I left the company in July 2005 to run my own business. This is when I realised I did not have a National Insurance Contributions (NIC) number. I applied and got one in Ocotober 2005. I have been paying NIC ever since.

I heard on the radion one should check their state pension forecast and any shortfalls in NIC should be paid before rules change on the 5th of April.

This is when I discovered that I am missing 2 years of pension contributions corresponding to the 2 years I was working without a NIC number.

I spoke to the Government pension advisor who told me HMRC will accept wage slips and P60 etc as proof of working and will amend my records.

I don't have those. I do have a contract of employment and a few internal memos e.g.new sickess policy etc.

The company I worked for in 2003-2005 is still in existance. They have obviously saved themselves a bit of money by not paying my NIC. I was none the wiser being a new arrival to the country.

What legal recourse do I have? I would like to know what my options are before approaching this company. Will HMRC accept my contract of employment etc as proof of employment? All advice would be very much appreciated.

What happened to your payslips and P60?

I didn't keep them.

Were you earning enough for you to have paid NI contributions?

Which is silly in hindsight. The contract of employment and internal memos do not prove I actually did the work.

Yes, I was an assistant manager on £13 k. This was over 20 years ago

I am not surprised by much, but a nationwide chain of shops not paying NIC when they have provided payslips etc is very odd. They must have paid your tax? So HMRC must have had an NI number allocated against your tax payments? Which ought to show your employment record (and raise the question as to how they didn't realise there was no NI being paid)?

I suspect they were paying to a temporary NI number or something similar and it just hasn't been married up with you on th system. I'd get in touch with the payroll and ask them for any records, don't go in accusing them of not paying it, go in with having to provide documentation for HMRC.

It's more likely that they did pay it but under a temporary NI number.

It would be way too much effort to circumvent a payroll system to save a few ££

Given how long ago this was it's going to be difficult to sort but it might be unfair to accuse the employer of pocketing the cash.

ISTR that there was a practice by some employers of using a 'dummy' NINO constructed around your date of birth.

My first suggestion would be to call HMRC and take their advice.

Thank you for your reply.

I agree, this is very odd. I had wages paid into a Nationwide account which I had to open for the purpose of my wages being paid into. I even took a personal loan from Nationwide in 2005. I just don't remember getting any payslips or P45, P60.

I only realised I was without NIC number when I tried to set up my NIC contributions when running the business. I vaguely remember being told I was on some sort of an emergency NIC.

Where do I go from here?

Thank you so much, I will call HMRC it on Monday.

What does ISTR stands for?

Thank you so much, this is very useful.

Thank you so much, this is very useful.

I seem to remember...

Sorry, ISTR = I Seem to Recall.

Is it possible you did not earn enough between December 2003 and April 2004 to contribute a full year minimum NIC.

I was paid NI on a temporary number, they make it up using your dob it was something like TN six digit dob F. Google and I’m sure you work out what it would of been then HMRC can find relevant employment record and marry it up.

It'll be the records not matching up rather than it wasn't paid by the employer. You need to ask HMRC what they need to match things up.

NI isnt paid on a cumulative basis, on the salary the OP was on she should have had NI deducted

What I meant was the amount paid in those four months may have insufficient to add the full year to pension history. I recently topped up such a year to get the credit but you can only do so up to a certain number of years ago.

Thank you, this is very useful