National Insurance Contributions Record

Froggitt

Asked for this a week ago and it arrived today. I have more qualifying years than I thought I had.

I cant work out whether the qualifying years when I was 16 are because I was in the 6th form (says 52 credits) or because I paid £2.21 of NI from my Saturday job at Freeman Hardy Willis.

When I was a student a few years later, it says 15 weeks credits, but it's not a qualifying year. Did something change compared to earlier years?

How much NI do I need to pay in a year for it to count as qualifying?

Mrs Frog also got her statement. What happened in 2010, as it looks like the credits (some kind of deal associated with child benefit?) stopped. She has a part time job, and paid £315 NI in 2012, which counts as a year, and £95 NI in 2011, which doesn't count as a year. Same questions.......how much NI paid counts as qualifying?

coyrls

Froggitt wrote: »

I cant work out whether the qualifying years when I was 16 are because I was in the 6th form (says 52 credits) or because I paid £2.21 of NI from my Saturday job at Freeman Hardy Willis.

I asked something similar, apparently if you stayed on at school at 16, you got three years' worth of credits, I think this was dropped a few years ago.

cte1111

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.

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

greenglide

Earnings from a single employment of an average of £112 per week (2015 / 16 rates) which is £5,824pa gets you above the lower earnings limit which is what you need to qualify.

Doesnt need to be every week as long as the average is met (excluding very high amounts in a single pay period). You dont need to actually pay any NI for this, this starts at the lower earnings threshold which is £155 per week (£8,060pa, £671.67 per month).

With NI every week / month stands on its own.

p00hsticks

coyrls wrote: »

I asked something simmilar, apparently if you stayed on at school at 16, you got three years' worth of credits, I think this was dropped a few years ago.

When the number of years needed for a full basic pension were 44 years for men and 39 years for women, credits were given for the years aged 16,17,18 so that people staying on in full time education had a fighting chance of being able to meet the requirement. I believe these credits were given to everyone, not just those actually in full time education (in fact, I think another thread on this board suggested that you didn't even need to be resident in the country at the time).

The credits were dropped in 2010 when the NI years needed was reduced significantly to 30 years for both men and women (and now rising to 35 years under the New State Pension coming in next week).

Froggitt

Did the Home Responsibilities Credits for mums looking after kids end in 2010?

p00hsticks

Froggitt wrote: »

Did the Home Responsibilities Credits for mums looking after kids end in 2010?

Home Responsibilities Protection was replaced by National Insurance Credits in April 2010.

I'm not terribly au fait with the ins and outs but I think at the same time they tinkered with the rules around giving the credits for those claiming Child Benefit so that it was only for those looking after a child under 12, whereas with HRP it was under 16.

Would that explain why your wive's stopped ?

https://www.gov.uk/home-responsibilities-protection-hrp/overview

coyrls

p00hsticks wrote: »

When the number of years needed for a full basic pension were 44 years for men and 39 years for women, credits were given for the years aged 16,17,18 so that people staying on in full time education had a fighting chance of being able to meet the requirement. I believe these credits were given to everyone, not just those actually in full time education (in fact, I think another thread on this board suggested that you didn't even need to be resident in the country at the time).

The credits were dropped in 2010 when the NI years needed was reduced significantly to 30 years for both men and women (and now rising to 35 years under the New State Pension coming in next week).

Thanks for the more detailed explanation.