Not enough NI

[bumblebeees]

So I've checked my NI record and it turns out I don't have enough Ni contributions and some years haven't contributed enough

The last few years I've been in full universal credit (about 3 years) so my question is, does uc help with pension contributions? I thought it did? Like my understanding is I either pay contributions from ur wages or from uc or benefits if not working. It is that not correct?

You should get NI credits on UC
www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

is it the last 3 years you are short?

Ok thanks yes the last few years. So I'll sii oh wait to uc to see if I'm getting the credits etc

Also another query if anyone can help. My hubby is self employed. Also on the joint universal credit claim with me, he is also short of credits. Every month we log in and he records his earnings. It asks every time has he paid ni and he always says no, assuming uc will give the credits or whatever but I'm not sure they are? Or is there another way that a self employed person can pay into their state pension?

If he’s self employed he should have been paying class 2 NI through his tax return if his profits were over the small profits threshold (which is £6,725 for this tax year). Paying class 2 NI should give him a full year of credits towards his state pension. It seems to take a few months to be recorded in the system after you’ve submitted your tax return.

I read somewhere that there was a problem with getting NI records from UC claims onto the system but don’t know any details.

If your DH is registered as self employed and doesn’t pay a lot of tax he can probably just pay class 2 NI contributions which is a lot lower than class 3, : £3.15 a week for Class 2. £15.85 a week for Class 3. Presumably he does a yearly tax return, so can opt to pay class 2 once he gets his tax calculation if his earning are low.

@Itscoldouthere thank u for that how does he go about doing it, ? Can he set up a DD for class 2 on his tax page? Gateway page I mean

@bumblebeees you pay self employed NI through your tax return

And you can pay class 2 voluntarily even if your profits are below the small profits limit, it’s about £160 to pay for each tax year.

If one of you claim child benefit you will get NI contributions through that.

@Whitacre this is what I need to do for hubby and it's cheap too which helps, do u know how I set it up?

For several years it’s just been done through the tax return and I don’t know if there’s another way. If he’s not doing a tax return that’s a different problem!

You used to be able to pay it by a weekly SO but not any more AFAIK

@Whitacre he does do a tax return yet but he obvs hasn't paid through that as there's gaps so I'm trying to sort it

So tax returns alll up to date but not the pension side of things

I'm hoping I can arrange to pay weekly

I don’t think you can pay class 2 retrospectively - the only way might be to put in a correction to prior tax returns and then tick the box to pay it voluntarily. If his profits are under that threshold, next time he does a return he just needs to tick that box, then he’ll have to transfer the money to HMRC using his UTR as a reference. Has he really been making a profit lower than £6,725 though? Because the class 2 NI is automatically applied if your profits are over that limit. (It was lower for 21-22, £6,515). So maybe their records are wrong? When did he submit the return for 21-22? It might not be showing yet (it takes ages for them to update it IME).

how many more years does he have to build up his NI record?

@Whitacre yea he prob does earn quite low so I'll be sure to look out for a box to tick next time (I do his returns every April). I have also left a note on our UC asking for advice etc

He has quite a few years left to pay, 15 I think

Update - He prob earns about £8-9k a year so will the class 2 have been applied automatically through tax return?

@bumblebeees just to clarify are the last 3 years you have been on UC showing as complete or missing years? If missing years contact HMRC as it’s much easier to get your record corrected now.

The house has got links to the group Fairport Convention, the house is called Fairport. I wouldn’t pay that much to live there, you could get much nicer.

oops sorry wrong thread 🙄

If you need to pay voluntary NI contributions going back 15 years, you need to sort it very soon. The window for going back more than 6 years closes in July, I think. It was due to close on 5th April this year but has been extended. You will need to ring the pensions forecast people and also the NI people to get a special reference number so that your contributions are applied to the correct account! Husband and I did this (we missed many years as we were working abroad) and it's simple enough once you ring them. The problem will come if you leave it until the summer as many people will want to get in before the deadline, the lines will get clogged and it will be very difficult to get through. This link should explain what you need to do
www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/deadlines