State Pension Query

chunkylover53

Just checked my state pension details on the government website and it says £168.60 is my forecast and this is the most I can get and I can't improve my forecast anymore. It no longer tells me that I need to contribute to reach my forecast. I believe it's telling me I'm paid up. Previous years I've checked, it's told me how many more years i need to pay to receive the the maximum forecast, and it no longer does this.

i can't post direct links because noob user, but i have a screenshot at i.imgur.com/9DukTcF.png whereas last year it looked like i.imgur.com/jzytf1U.jpg

however, i'm "only" 48. it says i've made 31 years of full contributions (with 1 year gap in 1991).

i'm PAYE, so I understand that I need to keep paying NI while i'm working, but some how, this all feels a bit too good to be true in that theoretically I can finish working now (if i had the funds to bridge the gap) and still receive a full state pension at age 67 (maybe 68?) without any additional NI payments. I was under the impression you needed to make more contributions than 31 years?

Silvertabby

Quite possible if you've been contracted in (to SERPS/SP2) as your pension would be based on the old rules of old basic State pension (30 years of NI contributions) plus the additional State pension you have paid for.

You are one of the losers under the new single tier pension scheme. Had the rules not changed, it's possible that your final State pension (plus additional pension) could have been nearer £270 per week instead of being capped at the new single tier level.

chunkylover53

oh, and there i was thinking i was a winner

yes, i was contracted out for a brief period, my COPE is estimated at £25.97. No idea what it actually will be, as at some point I transferred my "contracted out" bit into one of my private pension pots (which has now been bought and transferred somewhere else, so i don't have a record of the amount). I doubt it would have been anywhere near £25.97 though, fairly sure the amount i transferred was less than £20k.

thanks for the info...

Silvertabby

chunkylover53 wrote: »

oh, and there i was thinking i was a winner

yes, i was contracted out for a brief period, my COPE is estimated at £25.97. No idea what it actually will be, as at some point I transferred my "contracted out" bit into one of my private pension pots (which has now been bought and transferred somewhere else, so i don't have a record of the amount). I doubt it would have been anywhere near £25.97 though, fairly sure the amount i transferred was less than £20k.

thanks for the info...

Next time a pre 2016 pensioner moans about how hard done by they are, because they retired under the old rules and that everyone who reaches SPA after April 2016 will be better off, you can put them right !

molerat

Silvertabby wrote: »

Had the rules not changed, it's possible that your final State pension (plus additional pension) could have been nearer £270 per week instead of being capped at the new single tier level.

Currently £305.61 maximum.

drumtochty

I think this is what the OP was trying to post.

Tom99

drumtochty wrote: »

I think this is what the OP was trying to post. Both links were the same image..

No one showed the April 2018 figure of £167.51 per week and the other the April 2019 figure of £168.60

drumtochty

Correct, see above, I blame working two days this week rather than being retired as usual.