New State Pension starting amount and full record of qualifying years- trial service

neilvw

Spidernick wrote: »

Yes, that's the one I used. I should have gone with the Post Office, but I don't like the Post Office.

Well you wouldn't be paying them any money or anything, so my advice is to suppress your dislike and give them a whirl. A smartphone photo of your photocard driving licence or passport, plus debit card details, and a text and email verification, are all that is required IIRC.

gadgetmind

Meadows wrote: »

I had 32 full qualifying years that took me 2 years over the needed 30, the the new pension for 2016 was announced and I found I needed 35

But you won't be getting any less than under the old system.

Any buying those extra years pre foundation amount may not have been the best solution.

gadgetmind

It depends. Do you know how much you'll get under both old and new systems? If you old basic (for 30 years) plus S2P is *more than* your new minus RDA, then extra years under current system will be lost *unless* it flips you to qualifying for more under new system.

I'm not saying you're wrong, just that it's hard to know what's right without a lot of information.

p00hsticks

Meadows wrote: »

I was a biyt miffed by the new rules as when I retired (quite early) I had 32 full qualifying years that took me 2 years over the needed 30, the the new pension for 2016 was announced and I found I needed 35 :mad: .


I enquired about the cost of making mine up and it was around £3,000 which I opted to pay last year, a large lump I know (and yes I could not make it to my pension :eek:) but I decided that it would be money well invested to give me full qualify years ('TILL THEY CHANGE IT AGAIN BEFORE I REACH STATE PENSION AGE).

Unfortunately, as gadgetmind has said already, you may have wasted your money here.

Your 30+ years is enough to ensure you qualify for at least the full basic state pension under the current rules -buying additonal years prior to April 2016 will not increase this amount.

It's not possible to say without knowing more about your record of being contracted in or out what your entitlement under the new rules would be, but if you are approaching retirement age it's probably not going to be higher (as if you were contracted out for most of your life there will be a large deduction under the new calculations, and if you were contracted in the you'd be getting additonal S2P/SERPS under the current rules).

The Pension service will calculate your pension entitletment under both the old and new rules as at 6th April 2016, and the higher of the two figures will form your starting amount going forward from April 2016.

If you haven't already, you need to get yourself a pension statement. If the starting amount it quotes is less that the nSP maximum of £155.65, then you could buy additional years to increase your pension up to the maximum, but only for years AFTER 2015-16.

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/how-its-calculated

p00hsticks

Meadows wrote: »

just like the current pension, what you get is based on National Insurance contributions - though you’ll need 35 years instead of 30 to get the full pay-out

That's how it will work eventually - but there will be a transitional rules in place for a number of years to smooth out the the change from a basic state pension of £119 (+ any SERPS/S2P) for 30+ years contributions until 5th April 2016 and £155 for 35+ years for the new State Pension (nSP).

I'm afraid that if you already have a few years under your belt under the old rules you can't assume that having 35 years contributions is sufficient in itself to ensure that you'll get the full £155 under te new rules.

green_man

I finally got on this site when it was up and working. The estimate is:

Amount based on your contributions up to 2015

• £179.76 a week

which is £781.64 a month, £9,379.62 a year


Amount if you continue to contribute until 2033

• £151.25 a week

So given I have already retired does that mean if I contribute no further NI contributions I should get £179.76?

greenglide

My interpretation of what is an obviously faulty system is the the £179.76 is the Starting Amount calculated according to the old rules (what you would have got if nothing had changed) while the £151.25 might be what you might have got according to the new rules including the Rebate Derived Amount (have you been contracted out at some point? You should get the £179.76 uprated for inflation depending onm when you achieve SPa.

If your starting amount is already greater than the nSP maximum nothing can increase this apart from any extra S2P entitlement accrued for the current tax year. Voluntary contributions will get you nothing.

It is similar to mine and was already expecting more than the maximum nSP (£155.65) because of accumulated GRAD and SERPS from when I wasnt contracted out.

green_man

Thanks, this was based on 33 full qualifying years, I am 17 years from being 67.

I was going to put child benefit in my name for the next couple of years to increase my years to 35, but if I interpret the above correctly this would have no impact- is that correct?

Stubod

I tried the "new" service but do not have a photo driving license, also seemed to spend quite a bit of time to fill in the application..considered printing out the form and posting it but decided to phone them instead, (easily the simplest option).
They answered the phone after a few rings, I gave them my DOB / NI number and confirmed a couple of other questions and they said my statement should arrive within 10 days!

BananaRepublic

The site is very good.

I was surprised to get £157pw based on 29 years of contributions. This is almost the full amount based on 35 years using the new scheme. I thought I'd have to work six more years. I guess the new pension is similar, albeit a flat rate, but accrued over more contributions to make it affordable to the country.