State Pension Summary

kangoora

I'm a little confused about this and just trying to confirm what my state pension summary is telling me.

I've been on my state pension summary and it says my forecast is £159.55/week, fair enough, which is the new basic state pension. Incidentally, I have a COPE of £58.13.

My NI record says I have 38 years of full contributions plus 1 year missing (I worked abroad in 2001-02) and 12 years of further contributions (up to 2029).

My confusion comes from the fact that my first 11 years was in the Armed Forces and for a number of years after that I was definitely contracted out (off the top of my head around 7 years). I thought, with those early years of Armed Forces and contracted out pensions, I would not get the full new State Pension.

Is it saying I need to contribute for a further 12 years to access the full State Pension? Or, is it saying that I currently will get £159.55 without any further NI contributions? I'm hoping the second applies

Your forecast

• is not a guarantee and is based on the current law
• is based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2017
• does not include any increase due to inflation

£159.55 is the most you can get

You cannot improve your forecast any more.

Hope this is clear

molerat

The top line should state "You can get your SP on dd mm yyyy. Your forecast is £xxx.xx". It should state "You need to continue to contribute to reach your forecast" and also give you an "Estimate based on your NI record up to April 2017" and a "Forecast if you contribute until April xxxx".

capital0ne

You will get £195.55 the info is really confusing but just ignore the COPE amount

xylophone

It would not be impossible to have achieved a full state pension in this scenario.

As at 6.4. 16 two calculations were done and your starting amount was the higher of the two.

£119.30 + (SERPS/S2P - deduction for contracting out).

£155.65 - COPE.

You have been contracted out for less than half of your working life so far so that it is not impossible that your SERPS/S2P was around £95 - if so, you would have achieved a full NSP even after the COD.

kangoora

Thanks everyone, I *thought* that it was the case that I'd already qualified for the full SP although nice to have confirmation.

@molerat - yes, it says my forecast is for my birthday in 2029 and it doesn't say anything about further contributions. It does say "Estimate based on your NI record up to April 2017" - cheers

@capitalone - cheers also

@xylophone - thanks for the explanation, I was on an above average salary from 2002 until last year.