Pay Class 2 after pension age for previous year?

instal

I am self-employed and reached state pension age in July 2021. I have stamps for 31 years out of 35.

I am now filling out my self assessment for 2020/2021 where I have the option to voluntarily pay Class 2 contributions.

If I did so, would this increase my pension to 32 years out of 35? ...or is it already too late to do so given that I have already received a pension for almost half a year?

Thanks in advance.

McKneff

No, once you are receiving state pension you can't change it. 
Is that what you asked ?

p00hsticks

McKneff said:

No, once you are receiving state pension you can't change it. 
Is that what you asked ?

I don't believe that's correct - my understsnding is that you can buy previous years and they'll go and recalculate your pension amount as a result. It would be rather discriminatory against those not on PAYE if they didn't allow for at least the final year prior to reaching state pension age to be retrospectively included.

But as we've now got two responses with differing opinions, I'd suggest the OP gets in touch with the Pension Service and asks them and comes back here to let us know what they say.

https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service

McKneff

Please let us know . I am happy to be corrected and I will delete mypost if it is I correct 

molerat

Gap years can be topped up post retirement within the usual 2 year / 6 year rules.  The only question is as to when top ups will take effect, I believe top ups for the final tax year before SRA if paid within the SRA tax year will be backdated but beyond that they take effect from the date of payment.

t0rt0ise

The Royal London website which is often quoted here, says that you can pay extra years after retirement but it won't be backdated. It would be interesting to know if the backdating bit is correct.

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/who-can-pay-voluntary-contributions

If you’re over State Pension age

Your situation	Which class to pay
You’ve reached State Pension age and want to fill in gaps in your National Insurance record

xylophone

Also

https://www.wypf.org.uk/news/topping-up-state-pension/

If you are not on track to get the full amount of State Pension (or you are not receiving the full amount if you have already drawn your State Pension), then it’s worth considering topping up.

Terron

instal said:

I am self-employed and reached state pension age in July 2021. I have stamps for 31 years out of 35.

Are you sure you need 35? You are covered by the transitional arrangements so may need more or less. I had 36 but needed 37 to get the full new pension, due to being contracted out.

instal

In case anyone is wondering, I contacted the Pension Service who referred me to the Future Pension Centre. I was told that someone would get back to me within 10 working days, but no call received.

Then I rang again, was referred back to the Pension Service and finally told that only HMRC could tell me (presumably, if I did call HMRC, I would be asked to call the Future Pension Centre!).

Logging in to check my state pension forecast on the HMRC site, it shows 2020/2021 as "Year is not full". This along with being given the option to pay Class 2 for the same period, leads me to believe that if I pay, I would get an extra year counted.

But this is only my presumption, as seemingly no-one in officialdom can tell me... obviously I would be a bit miffed if I did pay only to find that it wouldn't be counted.

jem16

instal said:

Then I rang again, was referred back to the Pension Service and finally told that only HMRC could tell me (presumably, if I did call HMRC, I would be asked to call the Future Pension Centre!).

The Future Pension Centre should be able to tell you if paying for the year 2020/21 would improve your pension so what question are you actually asking if you're being told that only HMRC can help? The question should be - "If I pay for tax year 2020/21 will it improve my pension?".

Meanwhile how much are you receiving in state pension? If it's below the new state pension rate of £179.60 then yes 2020/21 will increase your pension. If it's equal to or higher then no it won't.