Gaps in NI contributions

[Ohexcellent]

Just logged onto my government gateway and seen my NI contributions. I was at university for 4 years straight after school. These years are listed as “year is not full”.

DH went to college straight from school and his years are listed as full years 🤔

Should you receive NI contributions as a student? Can anyone clarify. DH was not in employment during college. I had a few different PT rolls while at uni - mainly summer jobs etc. All paid properly through the books, no cash in hand work.

You don't get NI contributions while at university (unless of course you're also working and have earned enough). You do get NI contributions aged 16 to 18 if still in full time education, is that when your DH was at college?

@confusedlots Ahhh, maybe that’s where the difference is. I’m forgetting that he was a bit younger when he went to college 👍🏻
I was working PT during university but obviously mustn’t have earned enough to pay any contributions

I went to uni & worked PT in the holidays
Those uni years say zero for me too

You need 35 years NI contributions to receive a full state pension

Current state pension age is 66, 67, 68+ depending on your age

If you work after the 35 years, you will still pay NI

So you should have plenty of time

Does any one know if this is different for nurse training back in the bursary days in the 90s? I have the year I started training as
having contributions but the not the following two years. Was thinking of querying it but worried about opening a can of worms!

@SleepCamperSn0re 68 for me 😴😅 Plenty of time to make the necessary contributions 😊 I was just puzzled over the difference with DH and I both being students but age is definitely a factor 👍🏻

@MegCleary No idea about yours, sorry! But hopefully someone will know 😊

You can top up what you have paid to make those years count. Currently you can go back about 15 years. Government is trying to reduce that to 5 years.

@SewingWarriorQueen76 Yes I noticed that when I saw the gaps. It’s not a huge amount - just over £800 a year but not money that I have to spare at the moment unfortunately. I’ll definitely keep an eye on it though.

I also had gaps due to having children. I paid up to date but I'm now wondering about subsequent years. I'm now retired but don't qualify for child benefit. Youngest is 12. Can I still get NI credits it is this only for those on child benefit, or is it possible to set up a direct debit to pay NI? I can't see anything obvious on the gov website.

Check that it's worth your while making up the missing years. I did the forecast thing on gov gateway for my missing years and it would have worked out at about 22p a week more on my pension

Its

If you have a child of the right age you can get NI credits for child benefit even if you cannot have the payments due to the tax situation.
You can back claim in some circumstances https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

Some people can pay voluntarily https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions

The 35 years is completely irrelevant if you started your contribution history before 2016. All that matters is what your pension forecast says. What is the predicted amount given the time you have left to contribute? That is the important figure