Voluntary Contributions - Paid too much

PeteranDi

The government white paper recommends that people with 30 years NI contributions will get a full pension. Diana is unemployed has been paying Class 3 voluntary contributions for the sole purpose of earning entitlement to a full pension and now has 32 qualifying years.

Will she be able to claim the extra 2 years payments now the rules have changed, the previous requirement was 39 years and she has been paying class 3 for 13 years.

CIS

She wont be abe to get any refunds in the basis of rules that will change at a future date.
When does she reach state pension age ?, as their are no set rules in place yet as to how the change to 30yrs will be handled, it may be phased in , in which case those who retire at the earliest will require the most years.

PeteranDi

She retires in 2017 so will qualify for the 30 year rule. We have stopped contributions so I guess the real question is whether rebates will be allowed post rule implementation date.

CIS

From experience of dealing with NI contributions and pensions, the chance of getting them paid back retrospectively due to a change in the law is alsmost zero.

The paper states 2010 as the expected date of change, but be careful not to jump the gun if thay decide to implement differently from that which has been suggested.

EdInvestor

This is only a White Paper.

We need to wait for the new legislation later this year to see how the 30 years rule is to be implemented.

If it was implemented immediately, it would create a "cliff edge", which would mean some people would feel very badly treated. Thus it seems likely it will be implemented gradually over a long period starting from 2010, and that for the foreseable future you will still need much the same number of years as you do now.