Additional/Increased State Pension

Possom

I recall hearing in the past something about it being possible to increase ones state pension (or is it some other type of separate state pension?) by making voluntary contributions to this i.e. separate payments in addition to normal NI state pension contributions.

Would anyone know anything about this, or what the name of this is so that I can take a look at the details?

Thanks!

Dazed_and_confused

You might be better off checking your State Pension forecast on gov.uk first.

You need to look past the headline, quite possibly £168.60, to see what you have actually built up so far and what you can still accrue before your State Pension age.

To the best of my knowledge there aren't two different State Pensions.

molerat

Likely this https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-top-up-class-3a-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions which was only available to those reaching SPA prior to April2016.

Possom

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

You might be better off checking your State Pension forecast on gov.uk first.

You need to look past the headline, quite possibly £168.60, to see what you have actually built up so far and what you can still accrue before your State Pension age.

I'll definitely hit the 35 years worth of contributions by retirement age.

I presume there's no benefit in paying for some additional qualifying years in the past 7 years (which I could do)? Doing so would mean my total qualifying years would be in excess of 35 years by retirement.

Dazed_and_confused

I'll definitely hit the 35 years worth of contributions by retirement age.

Unless you are a teenager those rules don't apply to you.

Most people are under transitional rules where 35 years are pretty much irrelevant.

You really should check your forecast. You can do it online in a few minutes.

Possom

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

You really should check your forecast. You can do it online in a few minutes.

Okay - I'll do that. What is it that I should be looking for in the forecast? How do I know if it's good/not so good?

Is there a weekly projected pension amount I should look for in the forecast?

Dazed_and_confused

Most people will be aiming to get to £168.60, the standard amount for the "new" State Pension.

A few will get more than this but only if they had got to a higher figure before the rules changed.

You do not deduct any COPE figure shown from your forecast.

p00hsticks

Possom wrote: »

Okay - I'll do that. What is it that I should be looking for in the forecast? How do I know if it's good/not so good?

Is there a weekly projected pension amount I should look for in the forecast?

Yes, it should tell you how much you are projected to receive (at todays rates) and how many more NI years you need to get to that figure.