State pension

Harroman

I am retiring from work at the end of March.
According to the Government website I have 46 years of full contributions.
I am due the state pension in October 2020 at the age of 66.
The forecast for my pension is £156.25 a week, but it then states that I have to continue to contribute up to 5 April 2020 to reach the forecast. Can someone explain why this is so.
Thanks for any help

Asghar

Harroman wrote: »

I am retiring from work at the end of March.
According to the Government website I have 46 years of full contributions.
I am due the state pension in October 2020 at the age of 66.
The forecast for my pension is £156.25 a week, but it then states that I have to continue to contribute up to 5 April 2020 to reach the forecast. Can someone explain why this is so.
Thanks for any help

What do you want explaining? Your forcast is the maximum you can get if you continue paying National Insurance up until you reach state pension age.

A 16 year old starting out is going to have a forcast of £164.35, but they have to pay National Insurance for 35 years to get there.

It should also tell you your current estimate weekly amount based on you National Insurance record to date, based up to April 2018.

comeandgo

I'm assuming you have a private pension if you are retiring pre state pension payout. Were you contracted out when paying the private pension? To get the full state pension you need 35 years of full employee national insurance payment.

Harroman

Thanks for the replies. I will try and explain why I am confused.
These are the figures from Gov website
Estimate up April 2018 £146.86
Forecast up to April 2020 £156.25
I have 46 years of full contributions, and I only need 35 years, so why do I need another year of contributions to go from £146 to £156
Hope this makes sense.
Thanks again

xylophone

See post 12 here and read links.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5972526/help-understanding-state-pension-forecast

AlanP_2

As per Post 3 you have probably been contracted out through an employer scheme at some stage during those 46 years. You, and your employer, paid a lower rate of NI to accrue the basic SP with no SERPS/SP2 add ons.

The "lower" SP would be offset by a higher employer scheme pension amount. Typically this would be a lot higher than the foregone additional SP.

You will get the 2018/19 years worth of salary deducted NI added sometime after April 19 which will increase your £146.85 by £4.70.

Voluntarily paying the 2019/20 contributions will gain you another £4.70 a week bringing you to £156.25. The cost for that year will be on the website and is recouped within 3-4 years of claiming SP so a good deal.

Lots of other threads on here discussing it if you search / browse.

(Overlapped with Post 5)

Paul_Herring

I have 46 years of full contributions

Are you sure it's 46 years of 'full' contributions, and not that for some of those years you were contracted out? For example, do you have a section like this when you get your forecast?:



Which goes to a page like this:

Asghar

Harroman wrote: »

I have 46 years of full contributions, and I only need 35 years, so why do I need another year of contributions to go from £146 to £156

You need 35 years if you are building up a pension after April 2016, when the new flat rate state pension was announced. Which is now a single figure for everyone.

Dazed_and_confused

As others have said the 35 years doesn't apply to you.

You are under a transitional period and are generally considered a winner under the new system.

Paid less NI for some years.

Getting the pension you were expecting.

Can now increase that with additional years contributions.

What's not to like.