State pension top up years

MarkPrice

Hi.  If I am short of the qualifying term for the full state pension, will partial years have been taken into account pro-rata or is it a binary all or nothing?
I have one year (before 2016) where the Gov.uk website shows my top up requirement for a year to be much less than the full year cost of £795 at below £200.  Does that mean the extra lower amount I could pay would mean I get a full year benefit that currently is not included in my forecast calculation?

JGB1955

You need to  Contact the Future Pension Centre - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) who will talk you through the options.  Make sure you have a copy of your State pension forecast in front of you when you phone.  It is quite possible that paying for pre-2016 years will NOT increase your pension.

molerat

Partial years count for nothing I am afraid so filling part years may be a good idea providing they will actually benefit you.  As above the FPC will help to guide you through what will or will not add to your pension.  If you post your full forecast details up here someone will give you a good idea of what is what, it is actually very simple.  A good guide to topping up your pension https://www.royallondon.com/siteassets/site-docs/media-centre/good-with-your-money-guides/topping-up-your-state-pension-guide.pdf

A very simple rule of thumb is :

If you currently have 35 or more pre 2016 years then buying more definitely will not benefit you

If you currently have between 30 and 34 pre 2016 years then buying more up to 35 may or may not benefit you depending (mainly) on any COPE amount

If you currently have less than 30 pre 2016 years then making up to 30 cannot fail to be of benefit.

Audaxer

molerat said:

Partial years count for nothing I am afraid so filling part years may be a good idea providing they will actually benefit you.  As above the FPC will help to guide you through what will or will not add to your pension.  If you post your full forecast details up here someone will give you a good idea of what is what, it is actually very simple.  A good guide to topping up your pension https://www.royallondon.com/siteassets/site-docs/media-centre/good-with-your-money-guides/topping-up-your-state-pension-guide.pdf

A very simple rule of thumb is :

If you currently have 35 or more pre 2016 years then buying more definitely will not benefit you

If you currently have between 30 and 34 pre 2016 years then buying more up to 35 may or may not benefit you depending (mainly) on any COPE amount

If you currently have less than 30 pre 2016 years then making up to 30 cannot fail to be of benefit.

My wife has 31 years of full contributions in total (28 before 2016/17) and 4 years with gaps before 2016/17. According to the Royal London guide Chart B above, as she has over 30 qualifying years of contributions she cannot top up for the years up to 2015/16. Am I understanding that correctly?

p00hsticks

Audaxer said:

molerat said:

Partial years count for nothing I am afraid so filling part years may be a good idea providing they will actually benefit you.  As above the FPC will help to guide you through what will or will not add to your pension.  If you post your full forecast details up here someone will give you a good idea of what is what, it is actually very simple.  A good guide to topping up your pension https://www.royallondon.com/siteassets/site-docs/media-centre/good-with-your-money-guides/topping-up-your-state-pension-guide.pdf

A very simple rule of thumb is :

If you currently have 35 or more pre 2016 years then buying more definitely will not benefit you

If you currently have between 30 and 34 pre 2016 years then buying more up to 35 may or may not benefit you depending (mainly) on any COPE amount

If you currently have less than 30 pre 2016 years then making up to 30 cannot fail to be of benefit.

My wife has 31 years of full contributions in total (28 before 2016/17) and 4 years with gaps before 2016/17. According to the Royal London guide Chart B above, as she has over 30 qualifying years of contributions she cannot top up for the years up to 2015/16. Am I understanding that correctly?

No, I don;t think so - that guide is quite old now. I believe as she didn't have 30 years prior to 2016/17 then purchasing at least two of the pre-2016 years would increase her pension (And even if it didn't I don't believe she'd actually be prevented from topping up the years). 

Audaxer

p00hsticks said:

Audaxer said:

molerat said:

Partial years count for nothing I am afraid so filling part years may be a good idea providing they will actually benefit you.  As above the FPC will help to guide you through what will or will not add to your pension.  If you post your full forecast details up here someone will give you a good idea of what is what, it is actually very simple.  A good guide to topping up your pension https://www.royallondon.com/siteassets/site-docs/media-centre/good-with-your-money-guides/topping-up-your-state-pension-guide.pdf

A very simple rule of thumb is :

If you currently have 35 or more pre 2016 years then buying more definitely will not benefit you

If you currently have between 30 and 34 pre 2016 years then buying more up to 35 may or may not benefit you depending (mainly) on any COPE amount

If you currently have less than 30 pre 2016 years then making up to 30 cannot fail to be of benefit.

My wife has 31 years of full contributions in total (28 before 2016/17) and 4 years with gaps before 2016/17. According to the Royal London guide Chart B above, as she has over 30 qualifying years of contributions she cannot top up for the years up to 2015/16. Am I understanding that correctly?

No, I don;t think so - that guide is quite old now. I believe as she didn't have 30 years prior to 2016/17 then purchasing at least two of the pre-2016 years would increase her pension (And even if it didn't I don't believe she'd actually be prevented from topping up the years). 

Thanks, I had always thought that topping-up pre 2016 years would have no effect on her SP, but we'll maybe have to look into that further.

VXman

I'd appreciate some help on this. I've just returned from 3 years out of the country (2017-2020) so not paying any NI contributions. I'm now retired on my teachers pension. Not due to retire until 2029. 9 years.
Currently the .gov info says this

• 36 years of full contributions
• 9 years to contribute before 5 April 2029
• 6 years when you did not contribute enough 4 of those years were in 1981-85 when I was at university. (not sure why only 2 left - maybe because I paid enough in the year I left)

 Forecast is £175,20 per week. Current is £145.52. per week
Question is: Do I have to contribute for the next 9 years plus the 2 missing years to get the full £175.20? 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

No, you need 6 (if post 2016) years.

5 add £5.00/week and the 6th makes it upto £175.20.

Linton

You dont have to contribute for every year until SPA, nor the missing years.  Each extra NI year earns you £175.2/35=£5.  So you only need to contribute another 6 years in total.  Once you have reached the full State Pension extra NI years dont give you anything.

xylophone

I'd appreciate some help on this. I've just returned from 3 years out of the country (2017-2020) 

It appears that at 6/4/16 your position would have been

Old Rules

Full Basic SP (because you had at least 30 NI years) + (Additional State Pension - Deduction for Contracting Out).

New Rules

Full NSP (because you had at least 35 NI years) - COPE.

Your "starting amount" would have been the higher of the two.

If the position above is correct, then you can only improve your position by paying for years from 6/4/2016 onwards. Do you already have 2016/17/

See https://www.dpf.org.uk/explorer/files/TOPPING-UP-YOUR-STATE-PENSION-GUIDE.pdf

which is the edition for 2016/17 and explains.

VXman

molerat said:

A very simple rule of thumb is :

If you currently have 35 or more pre 2016 years then buying more definitely will not benefit you

I currently have 36 full up to 2018  but it says I need to contribute more to get the full state pension.

• 9 years to contribute before 5 April 2029
• 6 years when you did not contribute enough

If I purchased 2016-17 that would make 35 pre 2016. Would that take me from £145 per week to £175 Per week?