Refund of NI Contributions

Silverfox48

Sorry to ask about reclaiming NI contributions again but I am new to the site and hope someone can come up with an answer.
I asked for a statement of how many years I had been contributing and eventually got a reply which quite shocked me.
I entered the 'system' in 1963 and by 1993 had 30 years under my belt. Apparently the law regarding how many years you had to contribute had not come into force then. I continued contributing and from 1993 to 2007 when the law changed, I had contributed £26,000. From 2007 to 2010 when I finished contributing I had paid in another £11,000. (total £37,000). When I asked for clarification I was told 'Contributions paid beyond 30 years cannot be refunded as they were paid on a compulsory basis'. Pardon me for sounding stupid but where has all that money gone??? Even if you accept that the law did not change until 2007 and the chances of getting the £26,000 back are nil then why, (if HMRC was aware of the change in the law) did they keep taking my contributions for a futher three years!!!!!!!!!!! I have heard there is a link somewhere for a claim form and if anyone knows where it is I would be very grateful.

jem16

Silverfox48 wrote: »

'Contributions paid beyond 30 years cannot be refunded as they were paid on a compulsory basis'. Pardon me for sounding stupid but where has all that money gone???

NI contributions are not just about the state pension. They pay for entitlement to a whole lot of other benefits such as the NHS, JSA etc etc.

As long as you are below state pension age and are working you will be liable to pay NI.

No refund is due.

mynameistallulah

The advice you have received is correct, you cannot claim a refund for NI Conts. The money has gone into the great big NI pot, which covers far more than your pension!

Heycock

Problem is your contributions aren't ring-fenced and aren't, despite the misnomer, truly insurance. True insurance is defined in terms of how much you pay in, over what period and what you get out at the end. All this is a "Don't Know" with NI because the contract is simply one of "give us your money now, and we may at our discretion, at some future date, under circumstances which we will dictate and may be subject to change, give you something back.
What alot of folk don't realise is that your NI contributions have NEVER in their history been connected to your outcome. They are payments made by you now to fund benefits being paid out now to others. What you get in the future will be dependent on that generation of workers. And what the government of the day can screw out of them and their employers.

To sum up....NI is current income to pay for current benefits. The future can go hang.:mad:

McKneff

If this was possible, everybody would be reclaiming and the country would be bankrupt.

annie1975_2

It makes a good debate though?
If you think about it,you need 30 years contributions for a state pension,but you carry on paying full NI contributions even after this.
But if you opt out of serps and get a private pension,your NI contributions drop...

nimbo

but NI contributions pay for health care also....

so medications form the doctor that cost £50 - can be purchased for the script price of £7.20 (ish)....

we can break an arm and have it set for free at A&E....

we can give birth without receiving a £10k bill if we need a c section....

nimbo

Heycock wrote: »

Problem is your contributions aren't ring-fenced and aren't, despite the misnomer, truly insurance. True insurance is defined in terms of how much you pay in, over what period and what you get out at the end. All this is a "Don't Know" with NI because the contract is simply one of "give us your money now, and we may at our discretion, at some future date, under circumstances which we will dictate and may be subject to change, give you something back.

it's never been heralded as a form of insurance it's a tax.

but we all benefit from the system - we get out more than we put in....

Heycock

Nimbo...No problem if they called it a tax and made it part of general taxation. But they don't...they maintain this pretence that we're providing for our own future...but we're not. We're paying today's benefits and pensions. Not tomorrow's.

The health service is funded through general taxation not NI.

It's all one big community chest.

nimbo

Heycock wrote: »

Nimbo...No problem if they called it a tax and made it part of general taxation. But they don't...they maintain this pretence that we're providing for our own future...but we're not. We're paying today's benefits and pensions. Not tomorrow's.

The health service is funded through general taxation not NI.

It's all one big community chest.

The NHS was started by the NI system - it may not cover all of the massive mounting costs but it is indeed there to fund the system.

1948 - The NHS is born on July 5

When health secretary Aneurin Bevan opens Park Hospital in Manchester, it is the climax of a hugely ambitious plan to bring good healthcare to all. For the first time, hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists are brought together under one umbrella organisation to provide services that are free for all at the point of delivery.
The central principles are clear: the health service will be available to all and financed entirely from taxation, which means that people pay into it according to their means.

from linky below



http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/nhshistory/Pages/NHShistory1948.aspx


the bit in green about people paying according to their means in the NI system. may be called insurance but it is a tax.


so suck it up. there will be no refunds and i for one am happy to pay for the NHS because i could not afford the costs of needing to have a broken bone set....

Heycock

Yes through taxation. Not NI. Never. Not even at the start. NI is benefit/pension specific. NI might be used for health services but that is only because it ultimately goes into the same big pot as income tax, not because it is supposed to.