National insurance yearly update

eastcorkram

xylophone said:

It still puzzles me though. It says I need to continue to contribute to reach the forecast. 

What exactly  does your forecast say?

Here is a screenshot

drumtochty

The new style state pension in 2021 2022 is £179.60 per week. It appears you have got to that level now and any payment you make post April 2016 will not increase that value. On the other hand if you are still working you have to still pay NI even it does not increase your state pension.

If you only have 29 years NI years paid before April 2016, maybe and it is a maybe, you can posibly increase your state pension by 1/30 of the old style state pension. As the old style state pension that is paid to people who retired up to 5 April 2016, needed 30 years contributions. The old style state penson is now £137.65 a week and 1/30 of that would be £4.59 per week additional state pension if you paid that years NI and if you have less than 30 NI payments up to April 2016. This is a big maybe and follow Xylophones advice and quote exactly what was advised on your pension forecast.

eastcorkram

drumtochty said:

The new style state pension in 2021 2022 is £179.60 per week. It appears you have got to that level now and any payment you make post April 2016 will not increase that value. On the other hand if you are still working you have to still pay NI even it does not increase your state pension.

If you only have 29 years NI years paid before April 2016, maybe and it is a maybe, you can posibly increase your state pension by 1/30 of the old style state pension. As the old style state pension that is paid to people who retired up to 5 April 2016, needed 30 years contributions. The old style state penson is now £137.65 a week and 1/30 of that would be £4.59 per week additional state pension if you paid that years NI and if you have less than 30 NI payments up to April 2016. This is a big maybe and follow Xylophones advice and quote exactly what was advised on your pension forecast.

I have 30 years full now. I wouldn't have had 29 years paid by 2016. I've no issue continuing to pay NI. It just seems odd that they even mention 2016. I know that's when that calculation was done, but still seems confusing the way they word it.

p00hsticks

eastcorkram said:

drumtochty said:

The new style state pension in 2021 2022 is £179.60 per week. It appears you have got to that level now and any payment you make post April 2016 will not increase that value. On the other hand if you are still working you have to still pay NI even it does not increase your state pension.

If you only have 29 years NI years paid before April 2016, maybe and it is a maybe, you can posibly increase your state pension by 1/30 of the old style state pension. As the old style state pension that is paid to people who retired up to 5 April 2016, needed 30 years contributions. The old style state penson is now £137.65 a week and 1/30 of that would be £4.59 per week additional state pension if you paid that years NI and if you have less than 30 NI payments up to April 2016. This is a big maybe and follow Xylophones advice and quote exactly what was advised on your pension forecast.

I have 30 years full now. I wouldn't have had 29 years paid by 2016. I've no issue continuing to pay NI. It just seems odd that they even mention 2016. I know that's when that calculation was done, but still seems confusing the way they word it.

It sounds as if yours is a bit of an outlier case, which is probably why it looks a bit strange. I'd suggest getting in touch with the Future Pension Centre to confirm the situation, and if you have the money consider getting that extra pre-2016 year to take your pre-2016 years up to 30 and therefore increase your eventual pension. Normally you are only allowed to make voluntary contributions going back 6 years, but there is a temporary extension to allow you to go back to 2006 (hence the contradictory messages you are seeing). 

https://www.gov.uk/future-pension-centre

molerat

That "2016" has come up on here before and seems to be those that reached in excess of the new pension pre 2016 but still have scope to increase the 2016 starting amount.  Probably something the computer wasn't programmed for can't really cope with printing.

drumtochty

It looks as if you were reasonably well paid say £30k to £40k some years in the timescale 1980 to say 2016. It also appears from the limited info you are providing, that there are years when you did not work for whatever reason or were maybe abroad prior to 2016. In the better paid years in the UK, you may well have earned say around £3.50 per week state pension from SERPS and Second State Pension per well paid job year worked. These extra money events are just that, extra money on your old style state pension calculation, they do not fill the hole left by less than 30 years basic NI contributions up to 5 April 2016 to give you a full base old style state pension of £137.65. Therefore it appears that the DWP are allowing one pre 2016 year to be paid which would allow you to get a further £4.59 on your state pension to fill one of the pre 2016 gaps that is not filled by SRPS or SSP in the better years. This extra 4.59 per week will increase with the usual inflation figure the state pension attracts over the years.

xylophone

It seems that your starting amount was based on the old system.

I am  guessing that pre 6/4/2016,  although you did not have 30 years NI, you had been contracted in for much of your career and so had accrued a fair amount of SERPS/S2P.

 However, your entitlement to the Basic State Pension at that date was to less than the full amount because you had fewer than 30 years of contributions.

You are being advised that because this was the case (and you have a gap that you can fill between 06/07 and 15/16), you may opt to pay  one year on a voluntary basis.

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/rates

Original RL Guide P6
https://www.dpf.org.uk/explorer/files/TOPPING-UP-YOUR-STATE-PENSION-GUIDE.pdf

As other posters have said, contact the Future Pensions Centre to confirm the position.

eastcorkram

xylophone said:

It seems that your starting amount was based on the old system.

I am  guessing that pre 6/4/2016,  although you did not have 30 years NI, you had been contracted in for much of your career and so had accrued a fair amount of SERPS/S2P.

 However, your entitlement to the Basic State Pension at that date was to less than the full amount because you had fewer than 30 years of contributions.

You are being advised that because this was the case (and you have a gap that you can fill between 06/07 and 15/16), you may opt to pay  one year on a voluntary basis.

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/rates

Original RL Guide P6
https://www.dpf.org.uk/explorer/files/TOPPING-UP-YOUR-STATE-PENSION-GUIDE.pdf

As other posters have said, contact the Future Pensions Centre to confirm the position.

I will contact them . Seems a reasonable return on the £800 . I was working out of UK from 1990 to 2006 ish, Was never contracted out, but never earned huge money. Pretty sure when I left in 1990 , I was on about £22k. 
It says I have until 2023 to pay the one missing year they're letting me pay.

JoeCrystal

eastcorkram said:

I will contact them . Seems a reasonable return on the £800 . I was working out of UK from 1990 to 2006 ish, Was never contracted out, but never earned huge money. Pretty sure when I left in 1990 , I was on about £22k. 
It says I have until 2023 to pay the one missing year they're letting me pay.

That is huge money in my book. £22k in 1990 is equivalent to £51k today, for example.

xylophone

Was never contracted out,

Never at all? Not even when you were with RTZ?

Is a COPE shown on your forecast?