Contracted out for total employment history

Silvertabby

Pollycat wrote: »

Update:
Have rung DWP, they'll ring me back with figures (may be a week).

Not tremendously impressed with their phone system.
I chose option 3 but was told I needed option 1 (change of circumstances).
I pointed out that my circumstances hadn't changed, I was simply making an enquiry about my state pension.

Hey Ho.

Thanks again to everyone who gave advice.
Will update further.

Same thing happened with Mr S - his State pension was wrong because his 2017/18 pension credit age NI freebie hadn't been input by the time he received his first pension payment. Seems they class that as a 'change of circumstances' because his NI credit needed to be added (by them!). Still, all sorted now.

Pollycat - even if they tell you that you can pay for pre 2016 years, don't do it. Let's just say that some DWP advisors still don't appear to have got their heads round contracting out and the new State pension.

Pollycat

Silvertabby wrote: »

Same thing happened with Mr S - his State pension was wrong because his 2017/18 pension credit age NI freebie hadn't been input by the time he received his first pension payment. Seems they class that as a 'change of circumstances' because his NI credit needed to be added (by them!). Still, all sorted now.

Pollycat - even if they tell you that you can pay for pre 2016 years, don't do it. Let's just say that some DWP advisors still don't appear to have got their heads round contracting out and the new State pension.

Thanks for the reminder, Silvertabby.
The advisor did say that I could pay for 6 years - 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 and I said I was specifically interested in 2016/17 and 2017/18. (Thanks to Triumph13 for mentioning this in post #5).

p00hsticks

Pollycat wrote: »

Thanks for the reminder, Silvertabby.
The advisor did say that I could pay for 6 years - 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 and I said I was specifically interested in 2016/17 and 2017/18. (Thanks to Triumph13 for mentioning this in post #5).

I've just been pleasantly surprised when contacting HMRC this afternoon about making my own voluntary class 3 contributions.

I was confident that I need at least six post-2016 years to maximise my state pension, and having read up the info on gov.uk I called to ask them a) to confirm that the annual amount for 2017-18 was 52 x the weekly amount so that I could send a cheque for the year and b) if they could post me a direct debit form to complete to start paying for this year, as I don't have access to a printer to print one off myself.

It took about five minutes going through the preliminaries and being on hold until I got to talk to a human, but then Paul quickly set up the direct debit for me directly over the phone (apparently they've only recently started to be able to do this) to pay monthly for the current year onwards.

He then also provided me with the amount, bank account details and generated personal reference for me to be able to send a faster payment to cover 2017-18.

So fingers crossed I'm now all sorted - I just need to get a pension forecast / NI record update at some point each year to ensure that my NI record is being updated and is reflected on my pension forecast.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/national-insurance-enquiries-for-employees-and-individuals

Pollycat

Morning
A bit late in updating this, but DWP did get back to me with details of the extra pension I'd receive if I paid voluntary NICs for 2016/17 and 2017/18.


I then had to ring HMRC re payment amounts and payee details.
I had a similar experience to this:

p00hsticks wrote: »

I've just been pleasantly surprised when contacting HMRC this afternoon about making my own voluntary class 3 contributions.

I was confident that I need at least six post-2016 years to maximise my state pension, and having read up the info on gov.uk I called to ask them a) to confirm that the annual amount for 2017-18 was 52 x the weekly amount so that I could send a cheque for the year and b) if they could post me a direct debit form to complete to start paying for this year, as I don't have access to a printer to print one off myself.

It took about five minutes going through the preliminaries and being on hold until I got to talk to a human, but then Paul quickly set up the direct debit for me directly over the phone (apparently they've only recently started to be able to do this) to pay monthly for the current year onwards.

He then also provided me with the amount, bank account details and generated personal reference for me to be able to send a faster payment to cover 2017-18.

So fingers crossed I'm now all sorted - I just need to get a pension forecast / NI record update at some point each year to ensure that my NI record is being updated and is reflected on my pension forecast.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/national-insurance-enquiries-for-employees-and-individuals

However, when we tried to make the payment it wouldn't work.
After checking HMRC website, the very helpful (at the time) advisor had provided me with a personal reference beginning with 11 which apparently is for quarterly payments.
For one-off payments, the unique reference should start with 60.
I had one non-productive phone call to HMRC and then managed to get a correct unique reference number and I've made the payment.


Thanks for everyone's help and advice. :T

GunJack

Nice one

Silvertabby

Pollycat wrote: »

Morning
A bit late in updating this, but DWP did get back to me with details of the extra pension I'd receive if I paid voluntary NICs for 2016/17 and 2017/18.


I then had to ring HMRC re payment amounts and payee details.
I had a similar experience to this:


However, when we tried to make the payment it wouldn't work.
After checking HMRC website, the very helpful (at the time) advisor had provided me with a personal reference beginning with 11 which apparently is for quarterly payments.
For one-off payments, the unique reference should start with 60.
I had one non-productive phone call to HMRC and then managed to get a correct unique reference number and I've made the payment.


Thanks for everyone's help and advice. :T

Thank you for the update. I'm going to buy 4 x (post 2016) years - just haven't decided whether to buy 2 years now and 2 years nearer 2022, or all 4 years in one swoop later on.

aspensky

Sorry for intruding OP, but could I possibly ask Silvertabby a quick question. You sound very knowledgeable about the Class 3 NI top up situation, and I wondered if I could just run something by you.

I am 52, have 26 years of full NI contributions. I have received my SP forecast, showing the years that I can voluntarily top up and the amounts. It is the Pre/Post 2016 year thing that is confusing me. I posted a new thread on here yesterday, and it was suggested that I would be best to top up 4 years (max) of pre 2016 years (as they are cheaper) - making a total of 30 pre 2016 years, And then any further top ups that I decide to do in the future should be for Post 2016 years only. Does that sound correct to you? I just don't want to pay out for any years that will not actually increase my SP.

I hope you don't mind me asking - would very much appreciate your thoughts. Many thanks

Silvertabby

aspensky wrote: »

Sorry for intruding OP, but could I possibly ask Silvertabby a quick question. You sound very knowledgeable about the Class 3 NI top up situation, and I wondered if I could just run something by you.

I am 52, have 26 years of full NI contributions. I have received my SP forecast, showing the years that I can voluntarily top up and the amounts. It is the Pre/Post 2016 year thing that is confusing me. I posted a new thread on here yesterday, and it was suggested that I would be best to top up 4 years (max) of pre 2016 years (as they are cheaper) - making a total of 30 pre 2016 years, And then any further top ups that I decide to do in the future should be for Post 2016 years only. Does that sound correct to you? I just don't want to pay out for any years that will not actually increase my SP.

I hope you don't mind me asking - would very much appreciate your thoughts. Many thanks

Hi. It does. However, it very much depends on your future plans - mainly, if you intend to retire at 55 or if you will carry on working/paying NI until your State pension age (67?).

Also, what does your State pension forecast say - it should give 2 figures, one being your pension accrued to date and the other being the maximum State pension you could accrue if you carry on working/paying NI.

xylophone

I posted a new thread on here yesterday, and it was suggested that I would be best to top up 4 years (max) of pre 2016 years (as they are cheaper) - making a total of 30 pre 2016 years,

Have you seen this (chart page 4 will help).

https://www.royallondon.com/siteassets/site-docs/media-centre/good-with-your-money-guides/topping-up-your-state-pension-guide.pdf

GunJack

Might be an idea for you and the Silver one to continue this over on your thread, you've had some good advice already over there

edit:- ninja'd