ni contributions

[glassortwo]

I have been working part time for the last couple of years and I do not earn enough to pay NI, will it affect my state pension, I am 55 at the moment.

It may do. At the moment you need 30 years of contributions to qualify for the basic pension, so if you currently have less than that you will receive a reduced pension when you come to retire. However, you can 'buy back' years where you didn't earn enough to qualify. There's more information here

Hope that helps.

Thanks daisy going to look now.

if it does, nearer to retirement age, you will get a letter from HMRC asking if you want to top your NI contributions up.
I wouldn't top up anything yet, because you might end up topping up the wrong kind (i'm not sure if it's still that complicated, but it used to be that there was a category of NI that if you bought them, it wouldn't count towards your pension)

my mum had the same situation.
I can't remember how muc hit cost her, but it basically meant that she could retire on a full pension.

Oh thanks nickel I will bear that in mind.

you can request a state pension forecast which should help you know. see here that link gives you info on a forecast and how to get one.

HTH

glassortwo - to be absolutely frank no one who is paying NI today has any idea what they will get as a pension when they retire. I haven't paid NI for MANY years for this very reason. It is just a tax.

As nicklebabe rightly points out don't panic into putting in contributions. The Govt is changing pension entitlements all the time as well as extending retirement ages. A far better use of your money is to pay down any debts you have rather than wasting it paying NI.

Thanks everyone, have requested my gateway activation so just waiting for that then I can get a look at it.

you may still be getting credits to a pension - it depends how much you are earning. Itf you earn above the LEL you still get the credits - think about £102.00 per week up to £139 pw