New state pension - buying added years

molerat

Years are 6th - 5th April. You can not purchase them in the year of your SPA so not for 2023 - 24. You can purchase part years to make up so if retiring mid 2019 you will buy the weeks to make that up then 20-21,21-22 and 22-23.

Wentthedaywell?

molerat wrote: »

Y You can purchase part years to make up so if retiring mid 2019 you will buy the weeks to make that up then 20-21,21-22 and 22-23.

Thanks Molerat, that's very useful. Presumably one gets pension pro rata for part years worked, at both ends of one's career?

p00hsticks

Wentthedaywell? wrote: »

Thanks Molerat, that's very useful. Presumably one gets pension pro rata for part years worked, at both ends of one's career?

I'd be happy to be contradicted, but I don't believe so - you either pay enough NI contributions for a year to qualify or you don't and if the number of NI years you have on reaching state pension is less than that required for a full pension (currently 30, rising to 35 in April) it's calculated as the fraction (number of NI years obtained / number of years required) x full State Pension amount

Wentthedaywell?

p00hsticks wrote: »

I'd be happy to be contradicted, but I don't believe so - you either pay enough NI contributions for a year to qualify or you don't and if the number of NI years you have on reaching state pension is less than that required for a full pension (currently 30, rising to 35 in April) it's calculated as the fraction (number of NI years obtained / number of years required) x full State Pension amount

How is "enough" calculated? It's not simply complete years of contributions?

I'll have more than enough years (maybe 39) but I've been contacted out for them all so I am looking to top up by voluntary contributions.

treliac

I would also be pleased to know what constitutes 'enough' by way of contributions to qualify for a year's worth of pension. Does it have to be making payments throughout a complete financial year or is it about making a minimum level of payment during that year?

neilvw

treliac wrote: »

I would also be pleased to know what constitutes 'enough' by way of contributions to qualify for a year's worth of pension. Does it have to be making payments throughout a complete financial year or is it about making a minimum level of payment during that year?

It's a minimum number of weeks, but varies from year to year. I can't seem to find any tables online. If you use the online beta state pension statement system it should tell you which prior years are part-complete but able to be filled, and at what cost.

greenglide

"Enough" contributions for a year of full rate contributions to make a year qualifying is earning, in a single employment of earnings of at least the lower earnings limit, which does not actually mean you have to pay any NI if the earnings are below the lower earnings threshold.

There is no concept of part years in state pension terms - the final years earnings get you nothing unless your birthday is 6th April.

xylophone

http://www.rights4seniors.net/content/qualifying-years

"Qualifying Years
Entitlement to the Basic State Pension is dependent on the number of qualifying years you accumulate over your working life.

A ‘qualifying year’ is a tax year (April to April) during which you have paid, have been treated as having paid or have been credited with enough National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to make that year qualify towards a Basic State Pension.

Since 1978 a qualifying year is one in which you have paid (or treated as having paid) contributions on earnings of at least 52 times the Lower Earnings Limit. For the year 2015-16 the lower earnings limit is £112/week (from £111 per week in 2014-15) so you would need to have been paying NICs on a salary of £5,668 at least.


Since 6th April 2010


From 6th April 2010 a qualifying year is any year in which your earnings factor is equal to or more than the Lower Earnings Level for that year."

Basic State Pension - contribution conditions
Standard Note: SN 3111
Last updated: 8 October 2014
Author: Djuna Thurley
Section Business and Transport Section

"Since April 1978 a qualifying year has meant a tax year in which a person received (or was treated as having received) qualifying earnings of at least 52 times the weekly Lower Earnings Limit set for that year. [SSCBA 1992 section 122]

For the tax years 1975/76 – 1977/78, a qualifying year is 50 times the weekly Lower Earnings Limit set for each year. [SS Act 1975 Sch 3]
For the period before April 1975, we change the flat rate National Insurance contributions into a number of qualifying years by dividing the total number of contributions paid, (or credited with having been paid) by 50. There is a limit on this number. This means that the figure cannot be more than the number of years in a working life up to 5 April 1975. [SS (WB and RP) (Trans) Regs 1979 Regulation 7(2)]"

drumtochty

p00hsticks wrote: »

16-18 year olds who remained in full time education used to get NI credits for those years so that they could still qualify for a full basic pension (in the days when a man needed 44 years contributions, and a woman 39). That stopped in 2010 when the qualifying years dropped to 30.

According to this, it only started in 1975 though (point 25)
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/209123/national-insurance-single-tier-note.pdf

In both my own and my better half's case, we were both 20 before 1975 and have a detailed list of our NI contributions/credits and we have both been credited from 16 to 18 with NI credits. In both cases we were in full time education between 16 and 18.

drumtochty

For those males aged around 62 now you get an extra years NI credit if you are not working in the year you are 64 to make up for women at that age who get their pension over a year before your SRA. For those around 63 you get two years extra NI credits for the same reason.