Do I have time to increase my nSp Nov 16

teralin

I am due to receive my state pension in November 2016 and I will receive £127 under the new rules (30/35). My situation is fairly simple, I have 30 years NI contributions - the last contribution year being 2006. Will I be allowed to buy back five years of NI contributions in order to qualify for a full new state pension in November? I have never been contracted out and have not worked during the last ten years. I wouldn't want to get into the new tax year and find that I cannot buy further NI contributions. Any thoughts on this?

saver861

teralin wrote: »

I am due to receive my state pension in November 2016 and I will receive £127 under the new rules (30/35). My situation is fairly simple, I have 30 years NI contributions - the last contribution year being 2006. Will I be allowed to buy back five years of NI contributions in order to qualify for a full new state pension in November? I have never been contracted out and have not worked during the last ten years. I wouldn't want to get into the new tax year and find that I cannot buy further NI contributions. Any thoughts on this?

Simple answer to that is no.

If you have currently 30 qualifying years then you have the max required. You can only add post 2016 years to this and as you reach spa in November your can't really add any to it.

Linton

saver861 wrote: »

Simple answer to that is no.

If you have currently 30 qualifying years then you have the max required. You can only add post 2016 years to this and as you reach spa in November your can't really add any to it.

Is this true? The OP will reach SPA after April 2016. When the comparison is made between the new and old schemes it will be on the basis of the old rules as now or the new rules as if the new scheme had been in place when he/she started work. So it should be possible to buy class 3 NI years before April 2016 covering the past 5 years when no contributions were paid. This would provide a higher SP under the new rules. Or am I confused?

Triumph13

I'm with Linton. You definitely have a 6 year window and I think they may even have lengthened that around the change. If you have no contracted out time then an extra 5 years to get the full new pension as your starting amount is definitely possible.

DaveMcG

As others have said it is possible but depends on whether you were contracted out or not.

Are you getting an employers' pension from any employment?

Or did you take out a "rebate" personal pension?

patanne

Have you received a pension forecast as that amount seems very low for someone who has never contracted out. You should get the higher of the new version and the old version and I am sure that the old version would turn out to be higher than £127.

bigfreddiel

DaveMcG wrote: »

As others have said it is possible but depends on whether you were contracted out or not.

Are you getting an employers' pension from any employment?

Or did you take out a "rebate" personal pension?

If you read the original post it was stated that there was no contracted out years.

fj

bigfreddiel

saver861 wrote: »

Simple answer to that is no.

If you have currently 30 qualifying years then you have the max required. You can only add post 2016 years to this and as you reach spa in November your can't really add any to it.

Cobblers, you can buy 5 more years.

I get my nsp in July 16 and I have 43 years worth of contributions, so using saver861's logic only 30 years would be valid!

I'll say it again, cobblers, my forecast nsp is £153/wk and I've been contracted out for 15 years

Cheers fj

saver861

Linton wrote: »

Is this true? The OP will reach SPA after April 2016. When the comparison is made between the new and old schemes it will be on the basis of the old rules as now or the new rules as if the new scheme had been in place when he/she started work. So it should be possible to buy class 3 NI years before April 2016 covering the past 5 years when no contributions were paid. This would provide a higher SP under the new rules. Or am I confused?

Ah I may have misinterpreted. In terms of buying the years of course you can. However, it is whether these years impact on increasing the actual amount of pension payable.

On the old system it is 30 years for max pension. I think the question would be if adding additional pre 2016 years will actually increase the pension.

If that's the case then yes - however, I would double and treble check that the additional pre 2016 years purchased will actually increase the pension amount.

molerat

Agree with others. If you only actually have 30 years total and your pension is being assessed under the new rules - 30/35 (although £127 does not seem to fit) then you can buy post 2006 years at reasonable prices, sex and DOB plays a part in the rules https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/deadlines.

teralin

Thanks to you all for your responses. It does seem that I can buy some extra NI contributions to boost my pension when it starts in November. I intend to start the process soon and I will report back if I encounter any issues/problems. I just hope that the Government doesn't decide to supplement NI contributions out of the goodness of their heart