contracted out?

LateStarter17

some of my 16 NI years were bought with a lump sum
If my pension refunds pay into those years enough that the bought part wasn't necessary, will they refund me my top up lump sums? How will I know if any of my previous top-ups become moot as a result of the refunds?

When NHS Pensions pay a refund we must also pay what is known as a Contributions Equivalent Premium (CEP) to the National Insurance Contributions Office at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to reinstate your benefits in the State Second Pension. The first deduction from the refund is your share of this Contributions Equivalent Premium payment."

xylophone

I think that you might be well advised to telephone the DWP to discuss your situation regarding your new state pension.

https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pay-contributions-equivalent-premiums

Have the NHS already paid a CEP?

Have you actually received a refund?

And have you yet established whether or not you have a deferred pension with TPS?

LateStarter17

How would I know if they've already paid a CEP? presumably I'll know more about that once they've sent me my refund statements.

no I haven't had a refund yet, am in the process of applying for 3 different refunds

LateStarter17

On check your state pension on gov.uk:

Forecast if you contribute another 19 years before
£159.55 a week

£159.55 is the most you can get

You cannot improve your forecast any further, unless you choose to put off claiming.

If you’re working you may still need to pay National Insurance contributions until 1 April 2048 as they fund other state benefits and the NHS.

View your National Insurance record
You’ve been in a contracted-out pension scheme

Like most people, you were contracted out of part of the State Pension.

LateStarter17

on the national insurance record it says "full year" for 16 years
There are also 3 not full that I could still buy quite cheaply

LateStarter17

All years will be shown as qualifying years but you may have a COPE amount shown.
It just says Full or Not full, if you click on it the 16 full ones just say 52 weeks, and the not full ones have no of weeks and details of payment.

What does all this mean, if I've been contracted out are my full years not really full?

molerat

All years with 52 weeks of contributions, which you will get whether contracted out or not, are treated as "full" years and are used to calculate your April 2016 starting amount. Contracting out gives you a COPE amount, shown on your on line pension statement on a separate page, which is deducted from the calculated pension figure. You will then be given the higher of the new or old calculations as your starting amount.

You have until at least April 2019 to sort out purchasing pre 2016 years so need to get this contracted out situation sorted before doing anything else.

LateStarter17

where is this separate page? I've poked around I don't see "COPE" anywhere?

greenglide

You need to talk to HMRC about this, they are the keepers of the NI contributions records. It used to be the "Class 1 Caseworkers" at Benton Park View you needed to talk to.

I would wait until the refunds have actually been paid and then give them a ring. See the Web site https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/national-insurance-enquiries-for-employees-and-individuals

You can also get a more detailed contributions breakdown that can be requested on line.

In practice the NI buy back could reduce the number of years you need to work to get the full new State Pension and might possibly get you a "protected payment" if the pension already accrued is close enough to the nSP maximum of £159.55 (although that seems unikely).

LateStarter17

Your COPE estimate is £3.90 a week.

This will not affect your State Pension forecast. The COPE amount is paid as part of your other pension schemes, not by the government.

In most cases the private pension scheme you were contracted out to:

will include an amount equal to the COPE amount
may not individually identify the COPE amount
The total amount of pension paid by your workplace or personal pension schemes will depend on the scheme and on any investment choices.

I found this, is this a lot? I have no workplace pension, just bits and bobs that don't match up into continuous service so all needs refunding (apart from what I've recently started which I hope to build up, but I've only just started building up a qualifying NHS pension)