Increasing State Pension

Dazed_and_C0nfused

j.p said:

"Blimey. He was only trying to help" is also not proof of what is being asserted.

Is this sufficient for you?

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/pensioners/approaching-retirement

It includes this statement 

Before making any payment of voluntary contributions you should check with the Future Pension Centre that it is in your best interests to do so and that payment will increase your pension entitlement. This is particularly important if you are considering making payments for periods prior to 6 April 2016.

JoeCrystal

bigfer said:

Stevebrass said:

We have tried several times now to purchase extra state pension years. I am pretty sure we are eligible. However - we have been a total of ten hours on hold (not all at once) with the Pension team. They do not reply to online messaging either. Anybody else had the same problem?

yes on hold for ages, gave up in the end. Out of curiosity, i selected the welsh speaking option......boom....straight through. So, how many welsh only speakers are there in the UK? 
Anyone have an idea the best time of the day to contact the Future Pensions office? I don't really think its a viable option for me to learn welsh.

There is a textphone number: 0800 731 0176 as well! That might be better since it doesn't;t require you to learn Welsh.  I very rarely have to wait long while using textphones myself. (You can download the app to make your mobile to act as a textphone as well. Handy as well since it saved all messages for future reference)

p00hsticks

bigfer said:

Stevebrass said:

We have tried several times now to purchase extra state pension years. I am pretty sure we are eligible. However - we have been a total of ten hours on hold (not all at once) with the Pension team. They do not reply to online messaging either. Anybody else had the same problem?

yes on hold for ages, gave up in the end. Out of curiosity, i selected the welsh speaking option......boom....straight through. So, how many welsh only speakers are there in the UK? 
Anyone have an idea the best time of the day to contact the Future Pensions office? I don't really think its a viable option for me to learn welsh.

Are you trying to PURCHASE extra years (as you stated in your original post), or simply find out if it would be beneficial to do so ? If it;s the latter, then you do indeed need the Future Pensions office, but to simply purchase them then it's HMRC (although they may suggest you get in touch with The Pensions office first).

If you post up the figures from your forecast you may well find that the people who frequent this board can tell you if buying extra years will help and which years to buy.   

NedS

bigfer said:

yes on hold for ages, gave up in the end. Out of curiosity, i selected the welsh speaking option......boom....straight through. So, how many welsh only speakers are there in the UK? 
Anyone have an idea the best time of the day to contact the Future Pensions office? I don't really think its a viable option for me to learn welsh.

Out of interest, did you try speaking to the person in English? I very much doubt they employ any Welsh-only speakers and they may be more than happy to help you once you've said "bore da".

Dazed_and_C0nfused

j.p said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

j.p said:

"Blimey. He was only trying to help" is also not proof of what is being asserted.

Is this sufficient for you?

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/pensioners/approaching-retirement

It includes this statement 

Before making any payment of voluntary contributions you should check with the Future Pension Centre that it is in your best interests to do so and that payment will increase your pension entitlement. This is particularly important if you are considering making payments for periods prior to 6 April 2016.

It's progress, though I don't think it's sufficient.
What would be sufficient would be seeing an example of somebody who's still not entitled to 100% of their pension, and has a gap pre-2016 and a gap of the same size post-2016. Then someone tells him that filling the later gap is more useful than filling the earlier gap. In other words it would mean a larger % increase to their state pension than filling the earlier gap, and with calculations it demonstrates it.
Which should not be, in my opinion, as in my opinion all gaps are created equal (as long as they're same size and same cost to fill).
For I believe when numbers are crunched to see what someone is entitled to under the old system, calculation under the old system is able to look at post-2016 years (and treat them the same), and likewise, calculation under the new system is able to look at contributions pre-2016 (and treat them the same).
The new system would treat years all the same by design, whereas the old system couldn't possibly, I figure, have "prospective anticipatory clauses" to predict or prescribe that future years will be treated any differently, "starting at the point where the current system (the old) is replaced or phased out". That would be quite an extraordinary event; in my opinion, it can't exist.
As for calculations to demonstrate it, I bet they're quite far and between, since the online pension forecast does not give details of calculations under the old system, only a result. So even if it gave one particular person the answer I'm looking for - or rather I'm trying to avoid - namely that [covering] more recent year gaps are worth more, they would not by doing that disclose it to anybody but the person concerned, for data protection, and we would not hear about it or get to scrutinize that within this forum. Only if someone produced a method of calculation that would be proven to match that of the online pension forecast, and it was evident from that method's construction or experimentally from running it in selected cases, that indeed recent years are worth more, would we be any clearer.

How about this then.  There is a link in this article called "useful booklet" which is an extremely well respected guide to the options for increasing up your State Pension.

It no doubt isn't exactly what you want but it has served people well on here.

Note the figures in the booklet are a couple of years old now.

https://www.royallondon.com/about-us/members/understanding-your-finances/your-personal-finances/how-to-boost-your-pension-pot/

molerat

The point being made is that pre 2016 gaps, depending on individual circumstances, may have no value whatsoever which is why people are being warned about them.  This is especially relevant to those nearing retirement as they often already have in excess of 35 pre 2016 years but are still below the maximum new pension.

A pre 2016 gap may be worth less than a post 2016 gap where there are less than 30 pre 2016 years held and the starting amount is based on the old system.  If the starting amount is based on the new system then they are worth the same.

molerat

I am still trying to figure what point you are arguing.

If you have 35 or more pre 2016 years held then purchasing any more will not add value as only a maximum of 35 will be used in the pension calculation. That is a simple fact whether you believe it or not.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/19/contents

soulsaver

molerat said:

I am still trying to figure what point you are arguing.

If you have 35 or more pre 2016 years held then purchasing any more will not add value as only a maximum of 35 will be used in the pension calculation. That is a simple fact whether you believe it or not.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/19/contents

Can 35 years contracted out be replaced by (some) voluntary full years' NICs to improve your 'new' SP?

molerat

No, you cannot "replace" years as years are not lost, a full year is a year in which 52 weeks of basic national insurance contributions have been credited, but you can top up your pension amount.  If you already have in excess of 35 pre 2016 years then that topping up can only be done with post 2016 years.

bigfer

NedS said:

bigfer said:

yes on hold for ages, gave up in the end. Out of curiosity, i selected the welsh speaking option......boom....straight through. So, how many welsh only speakers are there in the UK? 
Anyone have an idea the best time of the day to contact the Future Pensions office? I don't really think its a viable option for me to learn welsh.

Out of interest, did you try speaking to the person in English? I very much doubt they employ any Welsh-only speakers and they may be more than happy to help you once you've said "bore da".

I think I said "good afternoon"and is this the future pensions office?. She replied in English it was, but it was dedicated for Welsh speakers and she couldn't help me unless I spoke Welsh. I just mentioned that she picked up straight away hoping she might be able to answer my enquiry, since she was not as busy as other members of staff, but before I could, she told me I should learn to speak Welsh. 
I suppose it keeps someone in a job, bet she's good at sudoku and solitaire.