No NI contributions for 7 years

conradmum

I was rather alarmed to hear from dh the other day that he hasn't paid any NI contributions for quite some time. He has his own company and pays himself through dividends from the company. Apparently his accountant advised him to stop paying NI. He does have a personal pension that has been going for years now that he pays £2000 a year into.
I'm quite worried now that he's going to end up with little to live on when he retires.

CIS

I personally think that any accountant who tells a client to stop paying NI to his state pension is a bit of an idiot.

You can stand 5 yrs loss in your NI record without making a loss on the basic state pension, but 7 yrs means that he is now at least 2yrs short on the state pension and possibly more depending on his NI record.

Best bet is for him to get a state pension forecast and see where he stands,and what he can make up.Online at https://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk or call 0845 3000168

On top of the basic pension he may loose, by not taking wages, hes not been accruing any additional state pension.

Each yr he hasn't paid NI , he potentially looses around £2 basic pension and £2 additional pension per week. So he could have lost up to , around £28 per week, already.

silverfoxdude

Well I am gonna get nothing, been married twice and I never had a career, I did bits and pieces of work, (to pay bills). Went to college for 3 years. Worked cash in hand for a while. Then I was on Income Support for ages.

So since 16 years old, I've probably worked a total of 3 years!

I think there is a calculator somewhere on the net to work this pensions lark out.I think I'll be on the streets when I am old!!

CIS

It depnds , silverfoxdude, are you currently divorced or reach retirement age after 2010 ?

If your divorced and not-remarried, you can claim on your ex-spouse's NI record to boost yoour own, and if you reach 65 after 2010, a man claim the increase upto 60% based on their wives NI record.

straight away, I can say you will have at least 3 yrs of NI, those yrs in which you where 16/17/18, get credited automatically, and provided our not S/E or outside the UK, you get credited frrom 60-65.

That makes up to 8 yrs, you will also have received NI credits for when you where on IS, so each complete tax yr of IS will give another qualifying yr.

Then you have the yrs you worked, potentially 3 more qualifying yrs, so your possibly looking around 11yrs + any from when you where on IS. (you'll need 11yrs minimum to get a basic state pension).

Follow the link I gave above to get an online state pension forecast.

silverfoxdude

Thank you CIS, there is hope for me then, I will look at this link also. I am divorced, from them both (!! wasnt twice shy, me!! hehe), but they werent the most hardworking of people tbh.

Aso, do the tax people have these figures, or do I have to provide the information for them as I cant remember half of my jobs and dates etc.


P.s I'm 32 yrs old

CIS

The National Insurance contributions Office will hold all of your Natioanl Insurance records, but they may not have your divorce details.

When you apply for a forecast, give your divorce details from the latest one, if they dont have the details on record, the forecast will prompt you to take your divorce cert along to an office for certification.