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

susank

I could not verify as 1 I have an old style driving licence - as never had to change it since moving here 2 I have no mobile phone contract - prefer pay as you go 3 have no mortgage - at my age I dont need one - my mortgage is paid off long ago 4 I have no loans or debt 5 I have a credit card which I pay off every month 6 The utility bills are not in my name they are under my husbands name 7 I have a passport but although I can travel all over the world that does not seem enough - they really need to sort this - I dont exist!!!

SnowMan

susank wrote: »

I could not verify as 1 I have an old style driving licence - as never had to change it since moving here 2 I have no mobile phone contract - prefer pay as you go 3 have no mortgage - at my age I dont need one - my mortgage is paid off long ago 4 I have no loans or debt 5 I have a credit card which I pay off every month 6 The utility bills are not in my name they are under my husbands name 7 I have a passport but although I can travel all over the world that does not seem enough - they really need to sort this - I dont exist!!!

Looks like you are out of options to use Verify but have you tried using the Government Gateway route?

t0rt0ise

susank wrote: »

I could not verify as 1 I have an old style driving licence - as never had to change it since moving here 2 I have no mobile phone contract - prefer pay as you go 3 have no mortgage - at my age I dont need one - my mortgage is paid off long ago 4 I have no loans or debt 5 I have a credit card which I pay off every month 6 The utility bills are not in my name they are under my husbands name 7 I have a passport but although I can travel all over the world that does not seem enough - they really need to sort this - I dont exist!!!

I only have passport and credit card too and got in with Experian. Can't imagine why I succeeded and you can't.

bigfreddiel

SnowMan wrote: »

Looks like you are out of options to use Verify but have you tried using the Government Gateway route?

I just tried it and works fine, you need to enter a mobile phone number to get a second code to complete logging in.

Then you will need one more verification to answer, so have one of these ready, a payslip with you national insurance contribution and tax paid, or a P60, or a passport or a driving licence.

Of course you will need to know your national insurance number as well.

Once on it said I will be getting £155.77 per week. Excellent, I can cope with that.

Cheers fj

SnowMan

SnowMan wrote: »

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/checkmystatepension

They now seem to have a link to log in via the old Government Gateway system as well as through Verify, so anyone with old gateway log in details who can't get verified through Verify can have a try with that. I've just logged on via Gateway.

That could be an indication that there are some problems with Verify.

Meanwhile 2 weeks on from having suddenly been blocked out of my experian Verify account and told that they would get back to me in 2 weeks, experian have still failed to sort out why I can't log in so I still have no access. They can't give me a timescale for sorting things, and their only suggestion is for me to try and verify through one of the other providers if I want access. Fortunately the restoration of the Gateway option means I can access my record again.

I rang Experian again and they still aren't able to sort out why I can't access my account. A game of pass the parcel is going on at Experian and the issue has been passed from their helpdesk to their technical team and now to their development team. Their only real suggestion to move things forward was to register with another Verify provider.

It appears there are some more options to verify now if you have a paper driving license, Royal Mail and Citizen Safe. So I gave that a go. However having spent some time answering all their questions correctly, I am told they can't verify me.

I rang up the Royal Mail verification helpline, they could not tell me why I had failed their verification process. They suggested I check my credit record with all 3 credit reference agencies to see if there was a discrepancy between the correct information and the information they held, if there were errors get that corrected, and then try to get verified again. Just unbelievable they could suggest that.

It seems if you can't be verified by any organisation (or if you are verified and then mysteriously blocked from your account) then there is no central Verify number you can contact, and the end result is you aren't able to access your state pension records online through Verify and there is no workable way to change this position.

You can understand why they are allowing access to the online state pension information now via the old Government Gateway.

Government Verify is a complete shambles from my experience :(

Yorkshire_Pud

I just registered via Gateway and got a Statement but no option for a NI Record, I had to fill in a very long online form for that and await a reply?

The Statement says I will get the £155 if I continue to pay NI up from £135 at the moment. Strange when as far as I know I have already paid 35 qualifying years!?

Also I was contracted out for some years and expect that to reduce the State Pension but the estimate doesn't allow for that?

So all a bit of a guessing game for me, i.e. not much use at all giving me the mirage of getting a full pension of £155 when its not achievable.

Also is it 35 qualifying years or 30 if one has paid any NI before 2016 because the Gov.UK site says that and I thought it was 35 across the board for the New State Pension?

SnowMan

Yorkshire_Pud wrote: »

I just registered via Gateway and got a Statement but no option for a NI Record, I had to fill in a very long online form for that and await a reply?

The Statement says I will get the £155 if I continue to pay NI up from £135 at the moment. Strange when as far as I know I have already paid 35 qualifying years!?

Also I was contracted out for some years and expect that to reduce the State Pension but the estimate doesn't allow for that?

So all a bit of a guessing game for me, i.e. not much use at all giving me the mirage of getting a full pension of £155 when its not achievable.

Also is it 35 qualifying years or 30 if one has paid any NI before 2016 because the Gov.UK site says that and I thought it was 35 across the board for the New State Pension?

The £155.65pw for 35 Qualifying Years only applies to those entering the new state pension scheme after April 2016. You come under the transitional period where contracting-out complications apply.

The £135pw with 35 Qualifying Years takes into account contracting-out. You should have pension benefits in a private pension arrangement, relating to this contracting-out that should in theory get you up to about the £155.65pw. These benefits aren't necessarily separated-out from the rest of your private pensions.

You can earn an extra 1/35th of the new state pension for each Qualifying Year after April 2016, about £4.45pw until you get up to the full single tier pension of £155.65pw. So if you get 5 post April 2016 Qualifying Years you will get up to the full new state pension, and have your private contracted-out pension pot on top.

Yorkshire_Pud

I've just had a quite speedy response from HMRC online who told me that at the moment the Statement estimate can only take account of any Contracted Out period up to the 5th April 1997!
ADDENDUM just to clarify i think this relates to the online gestimate NOT as far as I know the ACTUAL working out when people actually draw their pension, however its not clear and that is pensions for you!?

After 5th April 2016 the online calculation will take account of any Contracted out Period up to the present day:)

So many calculations like mine are way off at present.

One rumour I heard was that if ANY years were contracted out then that would apply to ALL years regardless so a pensioner would be treated as if they were Contracted Out for ALL their working life even if it was only a few years but I'm hoping that this won't be the case as otherwise my above explanation doesn't make sense!

I won't get my State Pension until sometime after 2021 when it's 66+ years of age to retire so if I have 35 qualifying years already I can't see how paying any more years will up my pension as I'm already at the max.

SnowMan

Yorkshire_Pud wrote: »

I've just had a quite speedy response from HMRC online who told me that at the moment the Statement estimate can only take account of any Contracted Out period up to the 5th April 1997!

After 5th April 2016 the online calculation will take account of any Contracted out Period up to the present day:)

So many calculations like mine are way off at present.

That would be seriously negligent of the DWP if that is the case.

I hope they actually mean they can't finalise the contracted-out deduction post 97 because there is no allowance for the 2015/2016 year yet.

My contracting-out was all pre 1997 so I can't check the theory based on my own figures.

One rumour I heard was that if ANY years were contracted out then that would apply to ALL years regardless so a pensioner would be treated as if they were Contracted Out for ALL their working life even if it was only a few years but I'm hoping that this won't be the case as otherwise my above explanation doesn't make sense!

No that's definitely wrong.

I won't get my State Pension until sometime after 2021 when it's 66+ years of age to retire so if I have 35 qualifying years already I can't see how paying any more years will up my pension as I'm already at the max

There is no 35 year maximum for those coming under the transitional period. There is a maximum amount of the full new state pension of £155.65pw (although those who have earned more than that before April 2016 get to keep that but can't earn any more after April 2016).

Because you have earned below £155.65pw to date you will need post April 2016 Qualifying Years to get you up to the maximum.

waterstar

SnowMan wrote: »

Because you have earned below £155.65pw to date you will need post April 2016 Qualifying Years to get you up to the maximum.

Are "post April 2016 Qualifying Years "

(a) NIC contributions made in respect of years starting on or after April 2016, ie limited to 2016-17 onwards; or

(b) NIC contributions made after April 2016 which could include voluntary NIC contributions for years before April 2016, eg year 2014-15?

I ask as i have a SP forecast (obtained in May 2015) of £115.95 with 30 qualifying years (mostly contracted out or voluntary contributions). I reach age 66 in 2022. Am I limited to further voluntary contributions only for the years 2016-17 through to 2021-22, which would only allow me to purchase 6 years. Or can i also make contributions for the earlier years to take me up to the NSPension limit?

Thanks in advance for responses/clarification.