State Pension Forecast

GunJack

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I would be surprised as well that you had already reached maximum given that you are only 53 and have a reasonably large COPE amount.

I'll be 51 with full newSP entitlement, and have been contracted-out all my working life....the vagarities of individual circumstances and some of the oddities of SERPS/S2P have helped in my case, but yes it's possible

IanSt

Yes, Deneb and enthusiasticsaver it seems that you've got the second calculation where it shows how much you could get if you were to continue paying National Insurance i.e. Deneb your forecast says "Forecast if you contribute until April 2022 is £150.80 per week." .

On my forecast (and I think the OP as well), it does not have this calculation so I believe that under the current rules that means that further contributions are not needed; but yes if you're in under any doubt then giving them a ring would be in order.

My particular wording goes as follows:


Your forecast is £159.55 a week

Your forecast

• is not a guarantee and is based on the current law

• does not include any increase due to inflation

• is based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2017

£159.55 a week is the most you can get

You cannot improve your forecast any more.

True_Blue_64

Some interesting and helpful comments - thank you all. I will give them a call later in the week to see if I can get some clarification. The wording in my forecast is identical to the one posted above by IanSt and the statement doesn't provide two forecasts based on 'NI to date' and 'NI in future'. That would suggest that I have reached the maximum I can, as some of you have suggested, but I'll see what they say.

Mnd

That is the wording on mine no mention if I continue to contribute. I look forward to hearing what you find out.
I have rung and they said that I didn't need to contribute any more, because I was concerned my forecast is higher than the new sp

Squibs1206

I am able to claim from November, but I don't understand why I wont get the full £159.55 per week. I have 38 full years + 7 when I was contracted out. When I checked last year I was forcasted to get the full amount & nothing has changed work wise.

xylophone

What exactly does your forecast say?

FatherAbraham

True_Blue_64 wrote: »

Sorry to ramble on a bit but would my best course of action be to question the amount that's been forecast for me?

No, your best course of action would be to seek work in another EEA country, so that you can build up state-pension entitlement there (using the accumulation rules of the EEA social-security agreement).

Unfortunately this useful route may soon be closed, as the anti-immigration Brexit vote will potentially have an even bigger destructive effect on Britons looking to emigrate for work.

Warmest regards,
FA

jamesd

To expand on FatherAbraham's post a bit, since your UK state pension isn't payable until 2031 and you seem to already have a UK state pension entitlement above the single tier cap, you wouldn't be able to increase your UK state pension through UK NI contributions.

Countries outside the UK are not necessarily affected by the UK state pension cap and if you were to move to one of those countries and work there, you might be able to accumulate additional income similar to the UK state pension under their system. At the moment you'd need to pay particular attention to any minimum qualifying periods given the possibility that we might lose our automatic right to work in many of the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) counties. Many of the EEA countries have systems which provide higher pension per year worked than the UK one, though of course that normally means higher costs at the time of paying in.

Quite a few people might like to consider it if they are already positively inclined towards exploring life outside the UK.

Within the UK of course there are personal pensions and workplace pensions that can be used instead, with the UK system having a deliberate split between lowish paying state pension and optional contributions to get to more typical targets. Many EEA countries instead make higher charges while working and try to replace a higher proportion of the income, with less flexibility. Which is best will depend on an individual's own preferences for the various options.

Hammer_Time

I will be taking early retirement from work aged 57 (Living on works Pension), my state pension date is 7/12/25 and the estimate so far is £126.88 (5/04/17) 41 years paid NI (Part Contracted Out). I can get the £159.55 but states I will have to pay for another 8 years. What is the best way of increasing my state pension without working?

molerat

The usual method is class 3 voluntary contributions at around £741 per year. Looking after grandchildren is a cheap way