voluntary contributions to make up for previous years of state pension

hazyfish

Hello all,
I'm wondering whether i should top up a couple of years of NI for my state pension. I am currently 48 with 18 years of full contributions and 14 years with not enough contributions. I need to contribute 19 more years to get my full state pension.. and it's 19 years until my retirement age, so i have to contribute each year until i'm 67. I've looked at my years with not enough contributions and for two of them i could contribute about 120 gbp each and they will be counted as full years, which cuts me some slack if I don't contribute every year until retirement. I have just retrained and am planning on working ongoing, but 19 years is a long time ! I'd be grateful for any advice or thoughts on this - i'm definitely pondering paying for those two years but also don't want to waste my money. 
Thanks in advance. 

xylophone

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

Are the years with shortfalls between 2006 and 2016?

Norman_Castle

Depends on how affordable it is for you but for £240 I'd pay it. As you say, It'll give you some slack during the remaining 19 years. You've paid for most of those years so why loose them for a relatively small amount?

Brie

sorry - post hijack.....
@xylophone - since you seem knowledgable....is it only full years that count towards the state pension or do part years add to it pro rata?  OH won't ever get the full whack (it's complicated) but has one year where we could pay about £200 to take it from 38 weeks to full.  I'd be happy to do that if it was going to make a significant difference but I don't think that it would.  Happy to be corrected.

molerat

Brie said:

sorry - post hijack.....
@xylophone - since you seem knowledgable....is it only full years that count towards the state pension or do part years add to it pro rata?  OH won't ever get the full whack (it's complicated) but has one year where we could pay about £200 to take it from 38 weeks to full.  I'd be happy to do that if it was going to make a significant difference but I don't think that it would.  Happy to be corrected.

Only full years count, all or nothing.

sevenhills

Brie said:

sorry - post hijack.....
@xylophone - since you seem knowledgable....is it only full years that count towards the state pension or do part years add to it pro rata?  OH won't ever get the full whack (it's complicated) but has one year where we could pay about £200 to take it from 38 weeks to full.  I'd be happy to do that if it was going to make a significant difference but I don't think that it would.  Happy to be corrected.

He/she could claim NI if he was a carer for children, either their own or grandchildren.

jouef

hazyfish said:

... I'd be grateful for any advice or thoughts on this - i'm definitely pondering paying for those two years but also don't want to waste my money.

Every additional full NI year adds £249.60 a year to your state pension, up to the maximum. Buy those two years for £240, and get a return on it exceeding 100% for your second and subsequent years on state pension. If you end up with more contributing years than maximum, reach a higher tax bracket, die younger or the rules change you could reduce the advantage. But you would still have cut yourself the slack you mention. [edit: that's actually 'exceeding 200%' as it's two years at £120 each]