Pension Boosting article discussion

JAG

Anyone know if you stayed on at school at 16 to do A-Levels whether you got NI credits for these two years to count as qualifying years for the SP?

SnowMan

JAG wrote: »

Anyone know if you stayed on at school at 16 to do A-Levels whether you got NI credits for these two years to count as qualifying years for the SP?

You are likely to qualify for credits under the juvenile rules.

“Since 1975 people will get credits automatically for the tax year in which their 16th birthday fell and the two following years. (Prior to 1975 contributions could be credited to any person who had not attained the age of 18 for any week of education, apprenticeship or training provided there was no liability to pay a contribution. The class of credit depended on their circumstances, but for someone who had not regularly worked it was a credit as a non-employed person (similar to the present Class 3)"

This is taken from page 23 of NP46 downloadable from
http://www.pensions.gov.uk/resourcecentre/employers.asp

dougz_2

I am a bit confused about the extended deadline for the two years 05-06 and 06-07.

Martins article says of these "In some cases, those who retire on or after 6 April 2010 get more time to pay at the rate for the year" but does not define which cases. I have scoured HMRC website and am even more confused as they appear to give inconsistant answers. eg,

This page says such an extension applies for just the one year 05-06:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/faqs/vol-conts.htm#10

This page says such an extension applies for just the one year 06-07:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payinghmrc/class3nics.htm#1

Furthermore, neither seem to mention any excluded cases as hinted at in Martins article.

AirCooledHeaven

worker800 wrote: »

As advised on this site I have just been on to the Inland Revenue who advised me that I was short on 3 years NIC and to pay them I must contact Pension Forecasts on 0845 3000168. They took details and said I can't pay until I have received their Pension Forecast which will take about 10 days to arrive. I explained that would probably take me over the 5 April 2009 and I would have to pay at the higher rate. They agreed but there was nothing they could do about it. I said I was willing to pay here and now but no I had to wait for their Forecast to arrive. This is so wrong, what can be done, I'm at a loss. This is going to cost me an extra £1000!!!! I'm so angry I don't know what to do and writing this hasn't made me feel any better. Any suggestions on how to beat this system?

You can get a forecast on line. You have to register and wait for an activation code in the post but this will be with you in a week. So you should be able to have a forecast before the deadline.

Moggles_2

worker800 wrote: »

As advised on this site, I have just been on to the Inland Revenue who advised me that I was short on 3 years NIC and, to pay them, I must contact Pension Forecasts on 0845 3000168. They took details and said I can't pay until I have received their Pension Forecast which will take about 10 days to arrive. I explained that would probably take me over the 5 April 2009 and I would have to pay at the higher rate. I said I was willing to pay here and now, but no I had to wait for their forecast to arrive. This is so wrong. What can be done? I'm at a loss. This is going to cost me an extra £1000. I'm so angry I don't know what to do and writing this hasn't made me feel any better. Any suggestions on how to beat this system?

I hope you get your pension forecast before 5 April 2009.

That said, if you are quite sure no contributions were made in a particular year, then I would send a cheque (made payable to HM Revenue & Customs only) plus your National Insurance details to:

HMRC National Insurance Contributions Office
Benton Park View
Newcastle
NE98 1ZZ

Costs for each of your three years are listed in Martin's article

philng

My wife who is 50 in July will have 34 years NI contributions but if she decides to retire prior to April 2010 will she still be entitled to the max state pension at age 65 as the 30 year rule only comes in to play from 2010? If she retires at 50 we will still have a 13 year old child so I believe this will still count for future NI contrbutioins. Is this correct?

Do we need to top up or not?

SnowMan

philng wrote: »

My wife who is 50 in July will have 34 years NI contributions but if she decides to retire prior to April 2010 will she still be entitled to the max state pension at age 65 as the 30 year rule only comes in to play from 2010? If she retires at 50 we will still have a 13 year old child so I believe this will still count for future NI contrbutioins. Is this correct?

Do we need to top up or not?

It is whether your wife reaches State Pension Age on or after 6/4/2010, not when she physically gives up work that matters. So if she already has more than 30 years of credit she will qualify for a full basic state pension at State Pension Age, without the need for payment of class 3 voluntary contributions.

Her State Pension Age is 6 September 2024 or 6 November 2024 depending on whether her birthday is in the first 5 days of July or not respectively.

The rules for getting credits if looking after children is changing from 6/4/2010 and will only be given for children under age 12 where child benefit is being received. Currently Home Resonsibilities Protection (HRP) is given if a child is under 16, and up to 22 HRP years will be converted to normal credits under the new system.

A-M_5

I’m going abroad on Saturday, back 5 April, so don’t hold out much hope for either requested forecast, or authentication to arrive before I leave. I contacted the Pension Service on 0845 3000168 twice and have been given different, conflicting, information.

My retirement date is 2012. To help me make a decision I have some questions please:

1) I was told that I have 3 years Juvenile credits and HRP between 1980-95 (15 years, I presume). I got no credits for my daughter born 1974 as I had MWS status, although I did not work during this time. I paid full NI from Sept 1988-Sept 2003, which I work out as 25 or 26 years. Can I get credited with the paid NI as well as the HRP?

2) I was told different amounts, ‘unconfirmed’, by the Contributions Office for the cost to buy now. The first gave me a figure of 421.20 for 04-05 (as MoneySuperMarket table), the other £371.80, which is also on a letter from them in 2006. 05-06 - £382.20, 06-07 - 392.60. Which is correct? Nothing was mentioned about a 2 year window.

3) One emphasised the need to beat the 6 April 09 deadline. I should send a cheque noting on the back, NI no. and years which I was buying. The other said they like you to buy early but I had Pay Buy dates and there was no panic to do so before 6 April 09, as there nothing was confirmed regarding increases. Which is it?

4) I think I’m about 4-5 years short. If I take a chance, based on the need to pay 3 years from 04 this tax year (I was told 07-08, 08-09 would not increase) would I be refunded if I bought over 30 years?

Finally, I was told today that ‘the press’ had got their facts wrong and there was no guarantee of a price hike, and certainly not a 50% rise. Another source at the Pensions Office also stated ‘the press’ had unnecessarily created anxiety and panic; parliament hasn’t yet agreed any changes and there was in fact nothing in place to accept these voluntary contributions.

dougz_2

A-M wrote: »

I was told today that ‘the press’ had got their facts wrong and there was no guarantee of a price hike, and certainly not a 50% rise. Another source at the Pensions Office also stated ‘the press’ had unnecessarily created anxiety and panic

Blaming the press?! The £12.05 hike has been published on lots of official government websites including here http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/nic.htm, with no mention of it being uncertain.

I still have no clarity regarding what exactly to pay for the years 05-06 and 06-07. To add further confusion, since my posting yesterday, I have now had my pension forecast through (after 21 days), and it says I would have to pay £8.10pw for both years if paying now, and that both years will hike up (to £12.05?) this coming Apr 6th. I phoned the pension service (30mins to get through) and they could not explain why they quoted £8.10, the person I spoke to thought there should be an extended deadline at the original price (£7.35 & £7.55) just like I did. As I pointed out previously the HMRC forms and website are also inconsistent on this. Does anyone know where to get the definitive answer?

Another thing to watch out for is that my forecast suggests that I include 2008-2009 in making up my shortfall, despite the table below it clearly showing that an earlier year would be cheaper to buy.

harryhound

A-M wrote: »

I I got no credits for my daughter born 1974 as I had MWS status, although I did not work during this time.

I cannot be sure about your 1974 situation but Mrs Hound left work to have a baby at Xmas 1977. The form at that time had a tick box.
It said something like after 2 years of non payment you will lose the Married Woman's exemption automatically. Tick this box to lose it immediately.
So we ticked it and got home responsibilities protection (HRP) for our Son born in February.
With a daughter born 2 years later it was about 10 years before Mrs Hound got a part time job and started paying NI again.
Those 10 years were on Mrs Hound's pension forecast when we asked for it about 4 years ago.