Opted out of child benefit and now I have missed out on National Insurance for state pension. Please help!

[Nyli]

I haven't worked for several years (for various reasons, including looking after my 2 children, age 16 and 15). My partner is a higher rate tax payer.

Back in 2020 we opted out of child benefit to save him having to repay it via self assessment. But I didn't realise this meant I would lose my national insurance credits. I'm now 52 and have just checked my state pension forecast for the first time and I'm in a bit of a panic. The last 3 years are missing. I see that I can make a voluntary payment of about £800 for each year I've missed, but we don't have enough money to do that. I have no other pension and my relationship is very rocky, we may split up.

I have 2 questions. Is there any way I can get child benefit or get the NI credits backdated for the missing years? If not, can I restart child benefit now so I don't miss out on the next few years while my kids are still in education? Thank you for your help!

Where does it say he won't marry her? Maybe she doesn't want to marry him

I'm sure you'd have missed them anyway as they stop in when children are in secondary school now

No, they don't. That's not a thing @DisforDarkChocolate

The government seem to say it is a thing

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-credits-for-parents-and-carers-cf411a

I never new this either, but it’s what the website says.

The payments continue but the national insurance credit cease.

Doesn’t seem like they are married, hope they are and OP meant to say husband

I’m sorry I don’t have any advice on your question but if I was you I would find a job asap.

If your relationship is most likely going to end soon, you need to have a way to take care of yourself and pay your bills.

Its a lot easier to find a job now whilst you’re still in the relationship, then trying to do everything at once.

I checked mine 3 months ago when l was 59.

Ive paid 35 years of stamps. I was predicted a full pension

TBH, you would have a safety net anyway. If you don't qualify for a full state pension, you would probable be able to claim Pension credit to bring up your weekly amount and this also opens the door to claiming other benefits eg housing benefit / cost of living payments / council tax discount

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow
it is really variable and really hard to understand the logic but some people are getting caught out by this and are a good few years short.

its also worth double checking as the forecast gives you the maximum you can get in big bold lettering, and the actual amount you get now is in much smaller lettering, underneath.

a poster has kindly posted her forecast, up thread, and you can see how it can catch you out.
edited to add it is @Lougle and she posted at 18.12, and the headline shows the maximum, and right at the bottom in small letters is what she will get if she makes no further contributions

Pension credit is means tested, OP mentions her partner is a high earner hence opting out of child benefit. The threshold for pension credit is pretty low so you could have made good provision for your retirement but could still run out of money if you need to employ carers.

Another reason to claim child benefit is in the unfortunate situation of your partner dying you get a higher amount of Bereavement Support Allowance - you don’t get much nowadays anyway with the end of the more generous Widowed Parents Allowance, which lasted until your children left full time education, now you just get monthly payments for 18 months.

@LadyLapsang it is also mentioned in @Nyli's OP that the relationship is rocky and they may split, which means that it would be relevant in the future.

Your DP needs to make the voluntary payments for you. His income is as much yours as it is his if you're a SAHM. I'll bet he's paying a lot more than £800pa into his own pension! Plus he'll get state pension too. The least he can do is ensure you get state pension.

You don't have to pay it today. You have (unless they've changed it) 6yrs to pay a backdated voluntary contribution so another 3(?or4?)yrs before the financial year 2020/21 expires and you can't make the payment. Either DP needs to find the money (by you all cutting back somewhere as a family, if necessary) or you need to get a job and save up to make the backdated payments.

If you decide not to pay the voluntary contribution this time and if you need the future 15yrs to each count, you'll have to ensure you top up any missing weeks voluntarily going forward.

Eg
If there's a gap between leaving one job and starting another
A gap between leaving a job and claiming Universal Credit eg if you became ill/redundant. (You get NI credits on UC and possibly some other benefits)
If you're on a zero hour contract and don't work for 2 weeks because you're on holiday or the company shuts down over Christmas etc
If you have one or more part time jobs that doesn't earn enough for you to have NI deducted from wages

A financial year is only a qualifying year for state pension if every one of the 52 weeks is paid for.

If you qualify for the full state pension, does that mean you don't qualify for pension credit?

If you don't qualify for pension credit does that mean you can't get CoL payment, housing benefit and council tax benefit?

Just wondering if some folks essentially living in poverty on nothing but the state pension are going to be shafted.

Well then she's a fool to have given up her means to support herself to raise children for a man she doesn't want to marry.

We dont know until she comes back but the OP suggests he has supported her while she raises her children, not theirs, she's not doing it for him unless she's mistyped her situation

I don't have anywhere near 35 years' worth, more like about 20, even with CB credits. I'm not going to be able to claim a state pension am I?

I'm 52 and haven't worked since three months before DD was born in 1996. No chance of me finding a job now either. I am completely screwed.

DH doesn't have a private pension but has worked/paid NI since he was 18 (he's now 42) so he'll get something at least, although I'll hit pension age well before he does.

What a mess.

This isn't quite true. https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/students/going-abroad/national-insurance

"A financial year is only a qualifying year for state pension if every one of the 52 weeks is paid for."

The employee only pays national insurance for periods where the earnings exceed the lower earnings limit. But if they earn enough that they make the equivalent of 52 x the LEL (£123 at the moment), and they earned over the LEL in each period that they were paid, they will get a full year.

For example, £200 x 32 weeks would qualify but £100 x 15 weeks and £300 x 17 weeks wouldn't, because although both total the equivalent of 52 x £123, the NICs would only be payable for £5100 of the earnings in scenario 2, so would fall short.

Is there a reason why you haven't worked for 27 years and say there's no chance of getting a job now at 52? You're 52, not 72. Do you have health issues preventing you?

@SparkIehoof why can't you get a job? Supermarket take on people of all ages or update computer skills, take a book making course etc, entry level jobs in the Civil service or their arms length bodies.

Consider registering as self employed. This may help if you cannot get a job. Just working a few hours a week as a cleaner, childminder, pet sitter etc should enable you to being credited. Not sure what will happen now government has stopped class 2 contributions but something will have to take its place. Eventually you should get a job, albeit you need to work about 25 hours a week to pay NI contributions.

If you filled out the form to opt out doesn’t that enroll you in the national insurance. I thought if you didn’t fill the form out you missed the pension credits.

Yes, I have rheumatoid arthritis. I was diagnosed 20 years ago, just as I was looking to go back to work. Ironically.

Apologies if I'm repeating what's already been said.

What exactly does your State Pension Prediction, available via the government gateway, say?

A lot of people get in a panic over missed NICs. I see this all the time where people are too ill to work.

I don't know if missed weeks, or even years, mattered greatly in the past but where you are now, at 52, I don't think you need to get in a flat spin.

NI conts affect (a) the State Pension but at 52 you're a good 15 years off that and (b) some out of work/ill health benefits. If you've missed recent years and/or not worked latterly you'll miss out on (b) - but we're not in kings ransom territory.

Under the current system you need 35 yrs of NICs to get the full pension - about £205/week. If you worked before you had children and intend to work again in the future you'll almost certainly be able to make up enough for the full pension.

The new pension that came in c2016 has a bear trap for folks who were in their mid/late fifties by then and who had been in employer's pensions that were contracted out of the second State Pension. Their NICs for the years they were contracted out do not count in full towards the headline 35 in the new scheme. But as years post 2016 do count most folks still working will more or less have made up lost time.

PM if you want more help.

See above!

If your partner is a higher rate tax payer he can make up the voluntarily contributions on your behalf. I think that is the most obvious thing to do 🤔