Number of Years NI Contributions Required to Receive a Full Pension

davidsmith56

I am no longer working and am due to start receiving my State Pension in December 2021.To date i have made 48 years worth of full National Insurance contributions and my personal pension forecast tells me that i need to make a further two years of NI contributions in order to receive the full pension amount.However i have seen reported on other websites that only 35 years of full contributions are required to qualify for the full pension amount.So is it correct that only 35 years are required and if so,can i make a claim for a refund of the additional 13 year's contributions i have made and how would i go about this.Many thanks for any help anyone can give me.

Brynsam

See https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/how-its-calculated or https://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/1263694/State-Pension-2020-How-many-qualifying-years-for-State-Pension

No, you can't claim a refund. NI contributions pay for more than your state pension.

molerat

NI is just another tax payable on earned income if you are below state retirement age and, as above, pays for more than just the pension.

35 years of contributions is only strictly relevant to those starting out post April 2016, anyone with a pre 2016 history is on a hybrid scheme.

Paul_Herring

However i have seen reported on other websites that only 35 years of full contributions are required to qualify for the full pension amount

Only if your entire NI contribution history is after 2016.

If most of it is before 2016 then it could be a lot less  that 35 (if you've had lots of S2P/SERPS contributions) or a lot more (if you've been contracted out for most of it.)

can i make a claim for a refund of the additional 13 year's contributions i have made

No. All the NI contributions go towards is credit towards a state pension, they're not paying towards it - there isn't a pot of money with your name on it, and your NI contributions in it. 

Silvertabby

If you have 48 years of NI contributions but still don't qualify for the full single tier pension then you must have been contracted out at some time.

When contracted out, you paid reduced NI - not full NI.

When DWP say 'full NI years' they actually mean 'full financial years', not 'full as in not contracted out years'

p00hsticks

Brynsam said:

See https://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/1263694/State-Pension-2020-How-many-qualifying-years-for-State-Pension

That's not a very helpful link as it contains the inaccurate sentence that ' If you have 35 years on your record, you will now receive the full pension of £175.20 a week.' This is not necessarily true.

As others above have pointed out, anyone whose NI record starts before the new State Pension was introduced in April 2016 may need more or less than 35 years to get the full amount, depending on their indovidual details (mainly whether they were contracted out our not), and some people with a lot of additional state pension may even be entitled to more than that amount.

Dandytf

Try https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account/nirecord\

e,g,

Estimate based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2019

£164.78 a week

Forecast if you contribute another year before 5 April 2039

£168.60 a week

£168.60 is the most you can get

davidsmith56

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.It was indeed the statement that 'if you have 35 years on your record you will receive the full state pension' that was causing the confusion.Only 3 of the 48 years were after 5th April 2016 and my record is showing that i was contracted out in the past.My Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE) is showing as £53.03 a week.I was actually retired on medical grounds from the civil service in 1998 and have not been able to work since so i wonder also if this has a bearing on my situation as i have been receiving a civil service pension for the past 22 years.

Silvertabby

Yes, you were contracted out (and thus paid reduced NI) when you were contributing to the CS pension scheme.

wiseowl5000

davidsmith56 said:

I am no longer working and am due to start receiving my State Pension in December 2021.To date i have made 48 years worth of full National Insurance contributions and my personal pension forecast tells me that i need to make a further two years of NI contributions in order to receive the full pension amount.However i have seen reported on other websites that only 35 years of full contributions are required to qualify for the full pension amount.So is it correct that only 35 years are required and if so,can i make a claim for a refund of the additional 13 year's contributions i have made and how would i go about this.Many thanks for any help anyone can give me.

Wish we could but sadly no