If I am unemployed from age 30-67, is there any way to get full state pension?

Legacy_user

I doubt if there is, but if I don't work from age 30 to government retirement age (think its 67), I would only 1/4 of the state pension right, as I've worked around 10 years (age 20-30)


Is there any way I can get the full state pension when I turn 67?

I've heard of something called voluntary contributions? how much would I need to pay?

cte1111

Have you been claiming child benefit for any of those years?

System

no, claiming no benefits except jsa for 1 year

Road_Hog

berbastrike wrote: »

no, claiming no benefits except jsa for 1 year

If you're claiming the dole (JSA) then you get you NI stamps paid, which means your pension contributions are paid.

You could supplement your income by pretending to be Roma and sell the Big Issue.

hugheskevi

I doubt if there is, but if I don't work from age 30 to government retirement age (think its 67), I would only 1/4 of the state pension right, as I've worked around 10 years (age 20-30)

You would also have 3 years of starter credits for the financial year in which you turned 16 and the two subsequent years.

For a list of the National Insurance credits available, see this page.

Is there any way I can get the full state pension when I turn 67?

Firstly, get a State pension forecast to see how many qualifying years you have.

To increase years, you can make voluntary Class 3 contributions for recent years or become self-employed and make class 2 contributions for subsequent years (or purchase Class 3 contributions for those years in the future).

You could also consider claiming Jobseekers Allowance credits only (ie no payment).

margaretclare

You mentioned 'unemployed' rather than 'not working and staying at home'.

If you are really unemployed i.e. claiming jobseeker's allowance, then your NI contributions will be credited.

If you're staying at home looking after children then you also get credits for your NI contributions for the time you're getting Child Benefit. This used to be called Home Responsibilities Protection, something else now, but the principle remains the same.

mania112

The other point to note is that we are going through some changes with our State Pension system.

In 37 years time, there's no knowing what the landscape will look like.