New State Pension Guide

greenglide

Not in DWP land (or I suspect other govenment departments either).

SnowMan

GunJack wrote: »

looks like I'm Frosty

I've got exactly 30 qualifying years to 5th April 2016 almost all contracted-out, and lots of post April 2016 years. So I'm an absolute winner out of the changes

So I'm more Frosty than you, so there :beer::snow_laug:snow_laug

GunJack

SnowMan wrote: »

I've got exactly 30 qualifying years to 5th April 2016 almost all contracted-out, and lots of post April 2016 years. So I'm an absolute winner out of the changes

So I'm more Frosty than you, so there :beer::snow_laug:snow_laug

are you really??? :p

let's see who gets the max first, I only need 4 years, how 'bout you??

SnowMan

GunJack wrote: »

are you really??? :p

let's see who gets the max first, I only need 4 years, how 'bout you??

My money's on you, as I need 8 post 2016 years.

Helpfulsis

"Frosty should get credits for being unemployed and seeking work, but if he is lazy and just likes sitting outside melting in the sun, then he can buy the post April 2016 years at currently generous rates. The cost of purchasing those extra years will be more than outweighed by the extra contracted-out pension pot and possible past national insurance saving that he has relative to Olaf."

This is not correct in my case - having stopped work in part for fun and in part for elder care (not enough to qualify for a pension credit) I am stuck as I already have 38 qualifying years and they won't let me but any more.....

That comes on top of a husband who was in serps, where I expected to get 50% of his serps if I was widowed. Now I will get 50% of a much reduced amount - i.e. 505 of the protected payment over £155.65 rather than the full amount over the basic state pension of £119.30.

gadgetmind

I may not be frosty but I am fairly chilled.

I'm now at 35 years, many of them contracted out, but enough contracted in the have just over £158 under the old system. I can't add to this but intend to stop work soon anyway, so no big deal. I also have a pot worth about £70k from former Protected Rights that's mine to do what I want with when I hit 55 in a couple of years.

My wife has never worked much due to family, but did get HRP, and we've been doing Class 2, so she's at over 30 years. She'll get £120 under the new system, and she'll add a couple more years to this using Class 2 and we'll then have to consider Class 3.

The transition has protected me, not penalised me for contacting out, which is all good. My wife benefits from getting more than basic old SP from the off with the ability to add a few more years.

I reckon the only people who think it's a con never bothered to read the white paper and have based their "understanding" on what they read in the tabloids. Not that the quality papers did a much better job!

gadgetmind

Helpfulsis wrote: »

I am stuck as I already have 38 qualifying years and they won't let me but any more.....

That was true under the old system, but you can now use Class 3 to buy more years to boost whatever you have now up to the full single tier amount.

SnowMan

Helpfulsis wrote: »

"Frosty should get credits for being unemployed and seeking work, but if he is lazy and just likes sitting outside melting in the sun, then he can buy the post April 2016 years at currently generous rates. The cost of purchasing those extra years will be more than outweighed by the extra contracted-out pension pot and possible past national insurance saving that he has relative to Olaf."

This is not correct in my case - having stopped work in part for fun and in part for elder care (not enough to qualify for a pension credit) I am stuck as I already have 38 qualifying years and they won't let me but any more.....

Having 38 qualifying years doesn't stop you purchasing extra post April 2016 qualifying years. It stops you buying missing pre April 2016 years but not potential post April 2016 years.

What can stop you buying extra post April 2016 years is having a starting amount already above £155.65pw, but to have a starting amount above £155.56pw you have to have been contracted-in for a significant period and frosty is assumed to be contracted-out.

Without knowing more about your position it is hard to comment further.

Helpfulsis

My starting amount is £122. I had a few years contracted in, but the vast majority were contracted out.

I did an online state forecast yesterday and that clearly indicated I could not buy extra years, so I am now requested a paper based forecast to see what that says.

Perhaps if I did a forecast again in a couple of years then may be I could buy extra years that were post April 2016 and/or I could look into paying class 3 contributions now.

Thanks for your help - much appreciated.

PS Looking at class three notes - you need gaps before you can pay them, and so I can't pay them now as I don't have any gaps.

PPS Looking at ...pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/about-pensions/the-state-pension/voluntary-ni-contributions it maybe that even in a couple of years time I won't be deemed to have any gaps due to having 38 qualifying years, so I will wait for my BR19 statement and then contact the pensions advisory service.

gadgetmind

For the next two years you can sill pay £130 (ish) pa in self employed Class 2, but you'll automatically have to do self assessment as a result of registering as self employed. No big deal for us but puts a lot of people off.