Mysteriously full NI years!

mcfcok27

Hi all

I'm a little confused. Logged into government gateway for the first time recently and looked at my NI record. Strangely, despite being in full-time education with only very small part-time employment between the ages of 16-18 (approx 50 quid a week, but not every week consistently for this two year period!), my record is displaying as 'full year complete' for each of these three years. I'm currently 26. Does anybody have an explanation as to why that may be the case?! Obviously I'm not complaining, but I'd like to know why...

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/209123/national-insurance-single-tier-note.pdf

" From 1975 16, 17 and 18 year olds were given credits if they stayed in full time education, approved training or apprenticeship to protect their state pension position.
These credits were ended on 6 April 2010 because the reduction in the number of qualifying years required for a full basic State Pension at that time meant that they were no longer needed."

saver861

xylophone wrote: »

" From 1975 16, 17 and 18 year olds were given credits if they stayed in full time education, approved training or apprenticeship to protect their state pension position.

That is correct though I'm not sure if they even check whether you were in full time education or not. Apparently these NI's are applied automatically when you first apply for an NI record.

Up to 2010 it seems they applied these 'educational' years even if you were not in the UK at the time.

SnowMan

saver861 wrote: »

That is correct though I'm not sure if they even check whether you were in full time education or not. Apparently these NI's are applied automatically when you first apply for an NI record.

Up to 2010 it seems they applied these 'educational' years even if you were not in the UK at the time.

The 'youth credits' (or 'starting credits') covered the tax year when someone reached aged 16 and the following 2 years.

The last tax year for which those 'youth credits' are available is 2009/2010.

Getting youth credits for years up to 2009/2010 is dependant on the person having applied for a national insurance number before 6th April 2010. There is no requirement to have been in the UK at the relevant time, only that a national insurance number had been allocated (and to get any starting credits it must have been applied for before 6th April 2010).

Although 'youth credits' were introduced in 1975 (as per xylophone's link) my understanding is that they applied retrospectively to those reaching SPA after then. So someone born in say 1955 (say) should still get the 'youth credits' even though their 18th birthday was in 1973.

saver861

SnowMan wrote: »

Getting youth credits for years up to 2009/2010 is dependant on the person having applied for a national insurance number before 6th April 2010. There is no requirement to have been in the UK at the relevant time, only that a national insurance number had been allocated (and to get any starting credits it must have been allocated before 6th April 2010).

Yes - I would have thought you would have had to have been in the UK for those educational years to qualify for the credits. However, as you say, it seems not the case and they are applied automatically.

There does seem to be some discrepancy on whether it was two years or three years credits. I have had two years applied but others have had three, so I'm not sure why.

SnowMan wrote: »

Although 'youth credits' were introduced in 1975 (as per xylophone's link) my understanding is that they applied retrospectively to those reaching SPA after then. So someone born in say 1955 (say) should still get the 'youth credits' even though their 18th birthday was in 1973.

I suppose this would only be relevant if someone did not have enough qualifying years from working. From what I understand the credits were applied immediately on application for an NI record. So pre 1975 would not have had them but would probably needed to have some form of retrospect application of the credits if there was not enough qualifying years.

grey_gym_sock

might these credits be connected to child benefit? AFIACR, i was given an NI number when i was 16, without actually asking for 1 (and without starting earning). but a parent was claiming child benefit for me.

and i recall that the child benefit could continue being paid even when i was 18, after a parent filled in a form stating that i was still in secondary education. could that be why i have 3 years' credits? if i'd started university a year early, child benefit would have stopped at that point; would i also have lost the 3rd year's credit?