n.i contribution shortfall

shimster1_2

Hi everyone,

Just a question to ask if anyone knows the best thing for my wife to do? She has just had a letter saying that their is a shortfall of £233 for year 2004 - 2005 on her n.i contributions and this may affect her pension. My wife is from Thailand and has an indefiinite leave to remain visa which entitles her to a pension at normal retirement age. My wife came here in 2003 and we are hoping to go back to live in Thailand in about 12 years time so is it worth it for my wife to pay this money back as she will still not be anywhere near the qualifying time for a full pension?
Thanks
shimster1

jamesd

The partial basic state pension is a good deal so if money is available, paying the money to get her qualifying for it seems like a good idea, compared to say increasing your own. The partial pension is worth having and cheap to buy, compared to the value it pays.

There are moves happening that might result in a change in the rules that allows partial years to count but since it's a good deal, paying for the extra weeks still looks like a good idea. It'll be a year before we know if the rules change, maybe longer.

sashacat

I would ring the pensions office and ask advice. I have done this several times in the past and they have been very helpful. I expect that the decision you will make in the end will depend on the age of your wife, how definite are the intentions to go to Thailand, whether you are both intending to stay there and whether a UK pension can be paid to your wife in Thailand.

martin1018

Is there a possibility that your wife has paid sufficient for the period in question?
A number of my colleagues, and myself, have recently received a similar letter which is apparently due to a computer error from HMRC, and should be ignored. This advice came from my employers, although I have no intention of ignoring what might be an accurate letter and I'm going to check with the address on the letter, to confirm it is an error.
Basically my advice is to contact them and check that all is as it seems!

CAE

I had a letter yesterday about a shortfall of NI contributions for 2004-05, and as I was working full time during that year I phoned the helpline. Apparently there was a delay in crediting NI contributions to personal accounts which has now been sorted. Follow up letters are due out in a few weeks. So I can ignore the kind invitation to pay them more money.