My NI record is very confusing!

Plymlyn

Can anyone explain why I still need to pay two more years NI to get the full pension when I've got 42 full years contributions? (I cut and pasted details below from my gateway page)

Summary
42 years of full contributions
2 years to contribute before 5 April 2021
6 years when you did not contribute enough

molerat

Plymlyn wrote: »

Can anyone explain why I still need to pay two more years NI to get the full pension when I've got 42 full years contributions? (I cut and pasted details below from my gateway page)

Summary
42 years of full contributions
2 years to contribute before 5 April 2021
6 years when you did not contribute enough

That is just your NI history and all that means is that there are 2 more years until your SPA. There is a lot more information than just those figures on your pension forecast, give us that information so that every possibility need not be covered. Does the forecast actually state you need to pay those 2 more years ? Does the forecast mention contracted out ? Is there a COPE figure ? and 1001 other questions

Audaxer

Plymlyn wrote: »

Can anyone explain why I still need to pay two more years NI to get the full pension when I've got 42 full years contributions? (I cut and pasted details below from my gateway page)

Summary
42 years of full contributions
2 years to contribute before 5 April 2021
6 years when you did not contribute enough

You like many people including me will have been contracted out. I also have over 40 years contributions but I still need to make 6 years of voluntary contributions until I reach State Pension age to enable me to qualify for the full State Pension of £168 per week.

Plymlyn

Thank you for your help - my forecast says:
You need to continue to contribute National Insurance to reach your forecast
Estimate based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2019 =£163.62
Forecast if you contribute another 2 years before 5 April 2021= £168.60

Your COPE estimate is£27.96 a week.

Background info - I'm 63, female live alone,have 3 part-time jobs, probably will earn about £10,000 this year and once worked in civil service for about 15 years. I'm trying to figure out if there's anything I can usefully do to improve my situation before I give up work in the next few years - as I have no savings and don't own my own home.

Silvertabby

For some reason known only unto themselves, when DWP say 'x years of full contributions', they just mean calendar years - and not full, as in not reduced NI, years.

If you intend to work up to or beyond 5 April 2021 then you won't need to do anything regarding your State pension - you will have hit the maximum and won't be able to increase it above that.

Your £27.96 COPE refers to your Civil Service pension, which was contracted out (hence your payment of reduced NI for that period). Depending on when you left the CS, your payment date may have been age 60 - and so there may be little point in deferring payment until you actually retire.

zagfles

Plymlyn wrote: »

Thank you for your help - my forecast says:
You need to continue to contribute National Insurance to reach your forecast
Estimate based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2019 =£163.62
Forecast if you contribute another 2 years before 5 April 2021= £168.60

Your COPE estimate is£27.96 a week.

Background info - I'm 63, female live alone,have 3 part-time jobs, probably will earn about £10,000 this year and once worked in civil service for about 15 years. I'm trying to figure out if there's anything I can usefully do to improve my situation before I give up work in the next few years - as I have no savings and don't own my own home.

How much do you earn in each job? Are they "linked" in any way, eg for same employer? Reason I ask is that multiple employments for different employers earning under the LEL (£118 pw) means you won't get NI credits torwards the state pension. See https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tax/hmrc-policy/nic-and-the-multiple-employments-trap

Plymlyn

Well it's good to know there's nothing else I could do...but I'll need to re-read your replies a few times before I can get my head around it, thank you very much for both explanations.

Triumph13

The key thing is Zagfles' point about whether any one of your three jobs earns enough to qualify as an NI year. If not then it would be worth you paying voluntary NI for 2019/20 which would get you within 16p a week of the maximum. That would cost you £780 odd for class 3 or, if one of your jobs is self employed, £150 odd for class 2.
Obviously it wouldn't be worth paying for a second year to get that final 16p a week!