38 Years of full contributions

SandLake

Having registered on the gov.uk website I can see that I have 38 years of full NI contributions and there are 11 years to contribute before 2026 (SP age).
My record upto 5th April 2015 shows I will get £144.71
and
If I contribute 4 more years before 2026 I will get £155.65

I have read on here that once you reach 35 years of contributions further contributions will not count - what am I missing?

bigadaj

SandLake wrote: »

Having registered on the gov.uk website I can see that I have 38 years of full NI contributions and there are 11 years to contribute before 2026 (SP age).
My record upto 5th April 2015 shows I will get £144.71
and
If I contribute 4 more years before 2026 I will get £155.65

I have read on here that once you reach 35 years of contributions further contributions will not count - what am I missing?

Most common reason is that you've been contracted out for a few years, so will be a winner in that you'll get the maximum state pension but will presumably have a db or private pension consisting of the NI contributions from when you were contracted out.

greenglide

Nothing!

NI contributions pay for more than just State Pension.

When you reach the maximum level of £155.65 then you still pay NI if you have earnings over the Lower Earnings Threshold, currently £155 a week or £8,060 a year. If your earnings are less than that at that point there is no point on paying voluntary contributions.

Linton

If you have more than 35 years NI but have earned less than the standard SP because of Contracting Out, NI contributions made after April 2016 add to your SP until your it equals the standard rate. This is an exception to the simple limitation of 35 years.

Paul_Herring

SandLake wrote: »

Having registered on the gov.uk website I can see that I have 38 years of full NI contributions

I rather suspect, as others have pointed out, that they aren't "full years" for the purposes of your flat-rate SP.

and there are 11 years to contribute before 2026 (SP age).
My record upto 5th April 2015 shows I will get £144.71
and
If I contribute 4 more years before 2026 I will get £155.65

38+4 = 42, which would imply that you've been contracted out for 7 years (42-35.)

I have read on here that once you reach 35 years of contributions further contributions will not count - what am I missing?

They won't count towards your state pension, but state pension isn't the only thing that's funded from them, or that they count towards. (Contributions based JSA springs to mind.)

All it will mean is if you stop working after those 4 years, you don't need to pay any more NI to get the full SP.

minty777

SandLake wrote: »

Having registered on the gov.uk website I can see that I have 38 years of full NI contributions and there are 11 years to contribute before 2026 (SP age).
My record upto 5th April 2015 shows I will get £144.71
and
If I contribute 4 more years before 2026 I will get £155.65

I have read on here that once you reach 35 years of contributions further contributions will not count - what am I missing?

Should that be 3 more years?

SandLake

Thanks for the replies

I am now semi-retired and don't really make any NI contributions, I have a casual job and some weeks I earn enough to get above the earnings threshold but mostly I don't - is it worth my while to top-up or simply pay a years qualifying NI contributions? My question is really - is it as simple as that or is the calculation so complicated that paying for an additional years NI will either not count or may not count towards my final SP amount?

SandLake

It does say 4 more years on the website - could it be because the website is only up to 5th April 2015

minty777

SandLake wrote: »

It does say 4 more years on the website - could it be because the website is only up to 5th April 2015

I thought you got £4.45 for each extra year of N.I. paid.

3 x £4.45=£13.35

plus £144.71 you already have

SandLake

That does make complete sense to me - but is the calculation quite as simple as that, I have heard it is a complicated formula

grey_gym_sock

it's not that simple for tax years up to 5 april 2016. after that date, it is simpler - i.e. once you know your entitlement up to 5 april 2016, if that is under £155.65, then adding later years will make up the difference, at 1/35 of £155.65 per year. but buying earlier years will not - in some circumstances - increase your entitlement at 5 april 2016 at all. and that may well apply to you, from your figures. does you statement have a figure for COPE?