YA Voluntary State Pension Contributions Q

squirrelpie

Yet Another Voluntary State Pension Contributions Question, for those who are curious.


I'm reviewing my wife's state pension forecast to see what if anything she should make in the way of voluntary contributions. She's retired and has been for the last six years (since Jan 2013). She'll get her SP next January. She worked for the NHS so was contracted out. We got a SP forecast two years ago, and her NI records. I'm looking to see what I think she should do before she calls the Future Pension Centre to confirm. So:


Jan 2017 SP forecast £127.27 /week
Based on 37 NI years up to 2015/16

COPE estimate £66.84 /week
"The above is an estimate of your Starting Amount for the new state pension based on your current NI record"



Her NI record as of Feb 2017 (and it won't have changed since) shows most years paid, a few too late to pay, while 2013-14 and 2014-15 are shown as payable. Since then she hasn't paid any NI or done anything to get credit, so I expect she'll also be able to pay 2015--16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. She won't be able to pay after that because she gets her SP in the 2019-20 tax year.


So if I've understood the comments in https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/75285176#Comment_75285176 and elsewhere, I think she should:


- not pay 2013-14, 2014-15 or 2015--16 since they're before the pension changeover
- pay voluntary contributions for 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19, which will improve her pension but not to the full rate, and I don't think there's anything beyond that she can do.


Do any of the knowledgeable folk on here agree?

drumtochty

The forecast would advise an amount earned to date and a maximum at April 2019 as that is the last payment date before Jan 2020 that matters re NI contributions.

Pleasr advise both figures.

p00hsticks

squirrelpie wrote: »

Y
Do any of the knowledgeable folk on here agree?

Yes, that all sounds correct to me.

molerat

Correct. As she has in excess of 35 pre 2016 years no more can add value. All 3 post 2016 years will add (at 16-17 rates) £4.45 to that £127.27 = £140.62 = £148.46 at today's rates.

squirrelpie

The forecast would advise an amount earned to date and a maximum at April 2019 as that is the last payment date before Jan 2020 that matters re NI contributions

I don't see either of those figures on the forecast. Please advise exactly where they are if you still think they should be there.

Asghar

squirrelpie wrote: »

I don't see either of those figures on the forecast. Please advise exactly where they are if you still think they should be there.

So you haven't got a up to date forcast. You can check online at:
https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

to see the current up to date forcast and where you stand.

squirrelpie

That's correct. The forecast is from 2017 as I wrote. My wife doesn't 'do' computers at all.

xylophone

My wife doesn't 'do' computers at all.

Perhaps you could teach her?

squirrelpie

My wife doesn't 'do' computers at all.

Perhaps you could teach her?

Ha, ha, very funny

Tom99

squirrelpie wrote: »

Ha, ha, very funny

You need an up to date forecast either online, post, phone.
It should show, based on your info, that 3 years NI can be paid for, as you say. That will add £4.695 x 3 = £14.08pw to her pension at 2018/19 prices and a bit more from 1/20 as the CPI increase in April 2019 will have been added.

squirrelpie

She got an updated pension forecast and it confirms what everybody said. So she wants to pay three years of class 3 contributions: 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. The obvious way, it seems to me, is to send a cheque to HMRC.


But I can't find anything that tells me how much to make the cheque out for. Are the annual class 3 rates published anywhere, please? I can find the weekly rates, but nothing tells me how many weeks there are in a year for this purpose.