New State Pension Guide

p00hsticks

drakhan said:

Just wondering something. How will state pension work for my wife. She has more than enough pension years but 14 of them were from working in Greece from 1991 to 2005. She still has 4 more years before retirement. She is 62. She hasnt got paperwork from Greece and isnt sure how to find out if eca was paid.

She might be best contacting the Future Pensions Centre - I think there may be a particular section that deals with overseas contributions

https://www.gov.uk/future-pension-centre

Janethepain21

Sorry, that should say, I would not be able to live on it ( my sppa pension).

molerat

Currently class 3 voluntary contributions are £15.30 per week, £795.60 per year.  Since 2018 you have added another 2 years to your pot and reduced that gap by £10.01 at today's rates and working another 2 will take you to the maximum personal amount of  £172.05 (at the current rate).  I assume that the pension forecast was done this FY and is based on NI contributions up to April 2020 and assume your 66th is after 6th April 2022.  If so then you only have 2020-21 and 2021-22 available to add that £10.01 to the current amount.  Paying voluntary contributions is definitely worthwhile if needed to fill the gap, they pay back in 3 to 4 years depending on your tax situation.  You may well have already earned enough this year to cover a full year of contributions - you need to earn 52 x the LEL so £6240 but you won't know until next June time.

Janethepain21

You are right in all your assumptions, my most recent estimate quoted was  as of 5/4/20, and my 66th birthday will be in
October 22.   
I understand that the dilema/balance is that you pay approximately £15.00 per week in order to gain £10.00 per week extra in state pension. But you get the extra £10.00 for ever ( until you die), you only pay it for in my case, less than 2 years.   I was intending to retire at the end of the year, or possibly at end of March, next year. I was not aware/perhaps forgot that I didnt need to work/pay ni contributions for the whole of this year to have it count for pension purposes, so that was good info, thanks
My thought was/still is, that at the end of this financial year, (even if I dont have to work all the year to gain enough contributions for the year to count, as above), the difference then might be down to well, closer to £5.00 of a difference, and the cost benefit analysis might differ. Especially as when I reach 66, and gain my pension, I will be over the tax threshold, and pay income tax on it anyway.  
I guess I will wait until I have decided when I will finish, and clarify/ decide whether to pay the £15.00 ish a week.to get my pension maximised! 
My dad is nearly 94, while my mum died at 66, so even the calculatiion about my probable longevity is on a balance!!
PS - Dont know why this has gone to double(at least) line spacing, and cant see how/where to change it back!

Janethepain21

Just for clarity, I have allready paid more than the required number of ni qualifying years for my pension estimate, but of course, you only get that forcast if you continue to pay qualifying contributions until you retire, other than that you get something closer to the current estimate!  Lots of people dont realise that, I think.
PPS - see the line spacing sorts itself out when you post it!

mark55man

Its very complicated and depends on your previous history, but if your forecast is still showing that you need to make/pay for extra years contributions then you have NOT "paid for more than the qualifying number of years" if you had done that your forecast and your current expected level (ie if you earned no more contributions) would be the same

Janethepain21

I must say, it is hard to fathom.  In 2016 I was advised (by HM Revenue & Customs in a 8 page National Insurance Record), that I had 37 qualifying years up to 5/4/2016.  Although I have reduced my hours when I turned 60, in October 2016, from 37hrs to 30 hours per week, I believe all the following complete years - from 16-17 to 19-20, ie four years, will count as full qualifying years. That would be 41 years in total. 
And yet, my most recent pension forcast dated to 5/4/20, still advised  a difference in payment, dependent on paying contributions right up to 5/4/2022, as opposed to the lower figure (both in my post above), if I stopped paying as of 05/04/2016.

I think I will ask for another statement/schedule/or what ever it is called!!
Thanks

ChrisEd

New state pension is the old basic state pension plus old additional pension. Need 35 qualifying years to get full new state pension but if you a been paying into Company Pension you may have opted out of the additional bit.   By making voluntary payment you can top up the additonal bit. If you are working and paying NI now the additional bit is now automatically included.

bigadaj

Janethepain21 said:

I must say, it is hard to fathom.  In 2016 I was advised (by HM Revenue & Customs in a 8 page National Insurance Record), that I had 37 qualifying years up to 5/4/2016.  Although I have reduced my hours when I turned 60, in October 2016, from 37hrs to 30 hours per week, I believe all the following complete years - from 16-17 to 19-20, ie four years, will count as full qualifying years. That would be 41 years in total. 
And yet, my most recent pension forcast dated to 5/4/20, still advised  a difference in payment, dependent on paying contributions right up to 5/4/2022, as opposed to the lower figure (both in my post above), if I stopped paying as of 05/04/2016.

I think I will ask for another statement/schedule/or what ever it is called!!
Thanks

The difference is because you have the defined benefit pension, and paid reduced NI for many years whilst contributing to it. The COPE figure on your statement/ estimate shows roughly what the contracting out was estimated to have been worth, if you continue to pay NI then your pension increases, those in the same situation without a DB pension would still be paying NI but not getting any more pension, so you have had double bubble so to speak. 

xylophone

On 6/4/16, (introduction of new state pension), two calculations were done.

£119.30 (full Basic for 30+ years NI) + (Additional State Pension - Deduction for Contracting Out).

£155.65 (full NSP for 35+ years  NI) - Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (shown on your forecast).
The higher of the two was your starting amount.  In your case it was under the value of a full NSP.
You still had a number of years to SPA and you were still working and paying NI - from 6/4/16 you  were able to improve your SP by 1/35 of that year's full NSP until you reached the full amount or last full year before SPA whichever was the earlier.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210299/single-tier-valuation-contracting-out.pdf