NI contributions: Do I have to pay them?

patanne

As an aside to this - if you are over SPA (therefore not paying NI) you are no longer allowed SSP - not the full story but you get the drift. I'm sure.

JezR

The National Insurance Fund is presently administered and accounted for separately from the general consolidated fund.

The following are paid out of the NI fund - some of these aren't available to new claimd but are still in payment to exising ones:

Basic and additional State Pension
Jobseeker's Allowance - the 'contribution-based' element
Employment and Support Allowance - the 'contribution-based' element
Maternity Allowance
Bereavement Allowance, Bereavement Payment and Widowed Parent's Allowance
Incapacity Benefit

The actual amount of NI paid in pound terms doesn't make any difference apart from the additional pensions in the entitlement - it is the record that counts, as well as the type of contributions

JezR

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

But that's more than just the state pension?
Successive governments have encouraged people to regard their NI credits as building up pension rights, so it's hardly surprising that in this new pension-conscious age, people expect to be able to see the relationship between their pension contributions and the pension they buy.

What % of employee NI goes towards pensions?
What % of employer NI goes towards pensions?

Are these figures good value in terms of the pension they buy?

That isn't how it works. You aren't building up your own reserve but playing for the pensions etc of those receiving them today. In that regard a little over 90% of the payments from the NI fund are on pensions.