Lower earnings - top up

CLB

I am sorry if this has been asked before or sounds like a silly question. Pensions arent my strong point,

My partner who is 35, had his hours reduced at work last June. Because of this he doesnt earn enough to pay tax or national insurance.

Should he be topping up his national insurance contributions for his pension? He doesnt have a personal pension. If he should be topping up is there somewhere that would tell him how much he should?

Any help/advise would be really appreciated.
Thanks

Linton

If he earns between £107 and £144 (2012/2013 figures) per week he will still be credited with NI although wont be charged. If he earns less than £107 then he wont be credited.

As to whether he should make contributions - under the new proposals he will need to have accrued 35years NI to get a full state pension. How many years does he have so far? Would he expect to get to 35 by his State Pension Age? At 35 years old its too early to worry about it assuming he has full contributions so far.

Whether the NI contributions would make any difference to benefit entitlement I dont know.

In the ideal world he should be paying into a pension beyond the state provision unless he is happy with living on £140/week throughout retirement. As a non tax payer the deal is particularly good as he gets a tax rebate even though he hasnt paid any tax. However it may well not be practical.

CLB

Thanks so much for your help.

atush

Also, do you have children and get CB? if you work full time, you can put the CB in his name and would get years off that (if he is less than 107 per wk) as the parent who gets the CB gets NI credit until the youngest is age 12.