New State Pension Guide

kelvinsballs

Hello All

I dont know if this has been covered if so apologies in advance but I wonder if someone could enlighten me........

I have now well exceeded the number of qualifying years in NI contributions to earn the full state pension.

I expect to have another 10 years full time work ahead and will still be paying my '' Stamp '' until I retire - which will not benefit me at all......

However my wife has long term health issues, cannot and hasnt worked for some years, doesnt sign on or qualify for any benefits therefore she doesnt qualify for any National Insurance Credits

so..........

My point is as I cannot benefit from the extra payments I make every month to the NI people can I ask for my contribution to be diverted to her NI account and help bring her Qualifying years up
for the future ??

Seems to me a simple thing especially as you can transfer a portion of your HMRC tax allowance so why not be able to transfer a portion of your NI contribution ???????


any advise or comments greatfully recieved......

rgds

Sputnik 1 :beer:

xylophone

can I ask for my contribution to be diverted to her NI account and help bring her Qualifying years up
for the future ??

No.

Have you obtained a new state pension statement?

Has your wife?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/overview

Has your wife enquired about "credits only"?

kelvinsballs

xylophone wrote: »

No.



Has your wife enquired about "credits only"?

Hello thanks on reply

Credits Only is something I haven't heard of but we have had statements etc and even been told if I want to bring my wife's pension qualifying years up It will cost me £ 14 a week from here on or roughly £ 700ish for every missing year........times that by the 10 + missing years and that would be a very big pain in our wallet :-(

rgds

molerat

Maybe a big pain in the wallet but pays you back in 3 - 4 years.

xylophone

You have said that your wife is too ill to work - it may be that she would satisfy the ESA requirements although she is not receiving ESA.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-3725546/I-m-ill-NI-credits-state-pension-Steve-Webb-replies.html

See link in previous.

sacherlover

I have read the MSE New State Pension Guide and myself and my partner have logged on to Government Gateway to check both our State Pension Forecasts and to view our National Insurance record.

The first point of confusion on the State Pension Forecasts is the headline figure of £159.55 prominently at the top. But wait, read down a little bit more and neither of us will get that: we both will only get just over £137.

I was surprised by this, as I knew I had at least 35 years of National Insurance.

So over to check / view our National Insurance record. According to that, I have 36 years of full contributions and my partner has 33 years.

So I called the Pensions Helpline to ask why. They explained that I need 35 years of full, QUALIFYING contributions. Yes, I (and my partner) were both Contracted Out during various employments over our working lives.

This is ambiguous and needs to be better explained, both in the MSE Guide and also on both Government sites (I have left feedback on Government Gateway to that effect).

However, the other issue that makes little sense to me is that, despite having three more years of full NI contributions than my partner, he gets a few pence more than me just on his current NI contributions.

Also, to get the full £159.55 we both need to pay another five years of NI contributions. My partner doesn't work and has no intention of going back to a job. I only work part time on effectively a zero hours contract, so pay an odd few pounds of NI if I have a lot of work within a particular month.

If anyone could explain the anomaly of why my male partner is already getting a slightly higher State Pension forecast than me (female), despite me having three more years of full NI contributions I would be really interested.

Many Thanks,

Silvertabby

If anyone could explain the anomaly of why my male partner is already getting a slightly higher State Pension forecast than me (female), despite me having three more years of full NI contributions I would be really interested. Posted by sacherlover

Nothing to do with being male or female - the difference is down to earnings and thus SERPS/SP2.

As you now know, you need to have paid unreduced NI in order to qualify for the new single tier pension - and, yes, I agree that DWP have caused confusion by not stating the difference between contracted out and non contracted out years.

Both of your pension forecasts are in respect of your entitlements under the old rules, as this will be higher than your entitlements under the new rules. That is the old basic State pension of £120 per week, plus earnings related top ups. Unless you both earned exactly the same salaries during your working lives then your SERPS/SP2 will be different.

Going forward, if neither of you earn enough to pay NI then you have the option of paying voluntary Class 3 NI contributions to make up the shortfall. In round figures, each one off payment of £750 will buy you an extra £4.50 per week state pension for the rest of your lives.

dunstonh

The first point of confusion on the State Pension Forecasts is the headline figure of £159.55 prominently at the top. But wait, read down a little bit more and neither of us will get that: we both will only get just over £137.

The top figure (in the big box) is what you are on track to get if you continue paying NI. The middle figure is what you have accrued to date (and what you get if you stop paying NI). The figure below that should be the higher amount and it shows how many years it will take to get that.

I was surprised by this, as I knew I had at least 35 years of National Insurance.

As you were contracted out in some of those years, that is to be expected.

This is ambiguous and needs to be better explained, both in the MSE Guide and also on both Government sites (I have left feedback on Government Gateway to that effect).

At the bottom of the page it states whether you have had contracted out pensions and a link that explains it
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account/cope

However, the other issue that makes little sense to me is that, despite having three more years of full NI contributions than my partner, he gets a few pence more than me just on his current NI contributions.

It is affected by how much you earn. You say you pay a few pounds of NI if you have a lot of work. This suggests you are not meeting the lower earnings limit consistently.

Also, there may have been years contracted in where your partner built a SERPS/S2P entitlement that was greater than you with your earnings.

greensea27

And yet another query!

Fantastic forum which I've read from front to back, but still have a couple of quick questions. I'm a 58yr old retired public servant, and was contracted out for most of my employment.

My online State Pension summary states I'll get my State Pension on my 66th birthday in 2025, and my forecast is £159.55pw, subject to continuing to pay NI to reach my forecast. The estimate given, based on my NI record up to 5 April 2017 is £130.62pw, a difference of £28.93pw.

My NI record shows I have 40 years of full contributions, with 2 years where I didn't contribute enough. I was working part-time in those years - 2013-14, where I was £243.50 short and 2015-16 where I was £705 short.

My questions are:

1. Is there any point in paying the £243.50 from 2013-14 and / or £705 from 2015-16? If I do, will that increase my current £130.62pw figure?

2. As I very much doubt I'll be working again between now and receiving my State Pension in 2025, I presume I can, between now and then, 'buy' the extra 6.5 years I require to boost my SP to the £159.55pw quoted. Is that correct?

Many thanks

Greensea

p00hsticks

greensea27 wrote: »

1. Is there any point in paying the £243.50 from 2013-14 and / or £705 from 2015-16? If I do, will that increase my current £130.62pw figure?

No - as you have over the 30 years NI required under the old rules, increasing the number of pre-2016 years won't help you.

greensea27 wrote: »

2. As I very much doubt I'll be working again between now and receiving my State Pension in 2025, I presume I can, between now and then, 'buy' the extra 6.5 years I require to boost my SP to the £159.55pw quoted. Is that correct?
a

Yes you can - although I think your pension is only calculated in whole years. Each full year adds 1/35th of the maximum £159.55 to your pension (around £4.55), up to the maximum. so buying six years will take you up to around £158.00 a week, whilst buying a seventh year will only get you about an additional £1.55, so not as good value as the first six years.