My State Pension Record Anomalies..check yours/advice

buyhighselllow

Just viewed my state pension forcast on line.

1 They have me down for no Contributions in 20012/13..easy to ammend ( we were TUPE'd to another Trust so I guess this resulted in some error ) , I still have my P60 so will write and get that ammended

2 They say I have made 29 yrs contributions ( will be 30 when they correct point 1 ) and at present this gives a pension of £118.95..HOWEVER, it says I need to make another 9 years contributions( from a possible 18 ) to achieve a full pension of £159.55..Why not 5 years ..I thought it was 35 yrs of full contributions ?...

3 Somehow I have a COPE forcast at £49.65 per week..I have never knowingly contributed to private pension..I have been an NHS employee for 27yrs, about 8 of which I was self employed and paid Class 4 contributions or whatever ) and have always paid superanuation/ NHS pension contributions..what is this £49 and is it in addition to my state pension

Can anyone shed any light on points 2 and 3 ?

Cheers

Dazed_and_confused

It is really only 35 years for those starting entirely from the date the new state pension rules started.

What do you consider your NHS pension to be? Isn't this going to give you a pension income of at least £49.65/week?

The £49.65 is a mythical figure of utterly no relevance other than in helping determine your start amount.

No one will be paying you the £49.65 but the NHS will probably be paying you an amount greater than this. If the NHS are paying you less than this have probably been unlucky.

LHW99

Point 2
Because your entitlement to the 'new' state pension is less than maximum, you are able to increase the amount by paying NI for more than the mimum years, and earn so much per week added on for each year. So you
Re Point 3, The NHS scheme would probably have been contracted out, so you would have paid a lower rate of NI.
The COPE represents some kind of "estimate" of what the NHS pension includes to represent the state pension that was given up.
My understanding is that now we are beyond April 2016 the COPE doesn't actually affect the figures you are given on the HMRC site for State Pension. So the £49 is sort of in addition to your state pension, but it won't seem like it, because it is rolled up into the NHS pension you have qualified for.

You benefit by having paid less NI for at least some of the yearsa you worked, you have the NHS pension and can potentially get a full state pension as well.

xylophone

The NHS Pension Scheme was Contracted Out.

At 4/6/16 two calculations were done.

(A) 29/30 x £119.30 + (Additional State Pension - Contracted Out Deduction)

(B) 29/35 x £155.65 - COPE.

It may be that (A) needs correcting to 30/30

and (B) to 30/35

You will be able to increase your "starting amount" (the higher of A or by additional contributions up to your SPA.

See https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447195/new-state-pension--effect-of-being-contracted-out.pdf - but the BSP should be amended to £119.30 and the NSP to £155.65.

buyhighselllow

I am hoping when the 2012/13 error is corrected I end up only needing 5 more qualifying years, as my wife has an identical record "Full years " contributions ??

molerat

Given the figures in your op you will need one less than the pension forecast stated. If contracted out "full years" are pretty much irrelevant at April 2016, it is the £s that matter so you will need £159.55 - (probably around) £123.03 = £36.52 / £4.56 = 8 years to get the full pension. The "new" calculation will only give you around £85.86 so well off the target.

As an illustration of how the years don't matter MrsM will have 35 full years and receive the full £159.55 but I will have 42 full years and only get £154, the big difference being I retired 10.5 years before my SP age (still 2 years to go) and we are living off my contracted out pensions.

longforgotten

I recently received my state pension forecast and according to their figures I had to work 40 years before I received a full state pension !


I phoned up to request a printout of my national insurance contributions and each year showed paid in full


I then phoned HMRC and was told that incorrect figures had been sent out to some people but they did not know who had received incorrect figures so they would not be sending out corrections ! The comment I thought laughable was, as they put on the forecast that you should not rely on the figures , the person I spoke to obviously thought it didn't matter if the figures sent out were a load of bunkum.

TadleyBaggie

I checked my NI record recently which stated I had a full 52 week contribution for 16/17. This was a bit of a surprise as I retired in 2015, claim no benefits and live off private pension/investment income.

molerat

longforgotten wrote: »

I recently received my state pension forecast and according to their figures I had to work 40 years before I received a full state pension !


I phoned up to request a printout of my national insurance contributions and each year showed paid in full

I see nothing possibly incorrect or out of the ordinary there. 40 years is quite possible, I personally need 44 and will not be able to achieve it.

molerat

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

I checked my NI record recently which stated I had a full 52 week contribution for 16/17. This was a bit of a surprise as I retired in 2015, claim no benefits and live off private pension/investment income.

Were you between the male and female retirement age ? https://www.gov.uk/automatic-pension-credits-for-men

Silvertabby

“ I checked my NI record recently which stated I had a full 52 week contribution for 16/17. This was a bit of a surprise as I retired in 2015, claim no benefits and live off private pension/investment income.
Originally posted by TadleyBaggie

Were you between the male and female retirement age ? Posted by molerat

Mr S, who retired at 60, has automatically been given 'free' NI credits for 16/17 and 17/18 because his 'pension credit' age (ie, the age a woman born on the same date as him would have received her State pension) was 63 and 3 months.

You also may be entitled to the £200 winter fuel allowance - but you'll have to actually apply for it if you are not currently in receipt of any benefits.