Guide discussion: Voluntary national insurance contributions

MSE_Clare

This is the place to discuss our new guide on voluntary national insurance contributions.

We'd love to hear your thoughts, personal experiences, and general feedback. 

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.'

p00hsticks

Where can we find this guide ?

A link to it would be helpful .....

Milltir

My experience is that I have had to write to PT Operations North East England, HM Revenue and Customs BX9 1AN to tell them which years I intended to pay and they would write back with the 18 digit payment reference number to make an online payment.
https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance/bank-details

jem16

MSE_Clare said:

This is the place to discuss our new guide on voluntary national insurance contributions.

We'd love to hear your thoughts, personal experiences, and general feedback. 

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.'

This is a lot clearer than your previous attempt and I’m glad to see it mentions contracting out as this is one of the main reasons just now that people are topping up. It’s good that comments on the last attempt gave rise to confusion as if the ability to go back to 2006 was new. 

What I’d like to see added is;

1. It should be highlighted that even having 35 years will not necessarily give you a full new state pension. The 35 years really only applies to someone who has not contributed to the previous system at all. For most of us we’re in a hybrid situation and may need more or less than the 35 years. 

2. In the section where you note that anyone who was contracted out and had 30 years would be unlikely to benefit, it should be mentioned that it is still possible but only contributions made from April 2016 onwards will make a difference. 

molerat

jem16 said:

2. In the section where you note that anyone who was contracted out and had 30 years would be unlikely to benefit, it should be mentioned that it is still possible but only contributions made from April 2016 onwards will make a difference. 

Pre 2016 additional contributions could make a difference even with 30 years + and contracted out though, it all depends on the sizes of the COPE and S2P, the 30+ extra 47ps can make a difference.  The only time it definitely cannot make a difference is with 35 + pre 2016 years.

squirrelpie

You lost me by the end of the first paragraph in the guide. The last clause is simply not true. Given the amount of discussion on this board about the issue of the number of years, and the number of subscribers who arrive with the wrong info, there's absolutely no excuse for a guide on this site to get it wrong. IMHO

Edit - to add: And the last 'Important' paragraph is also wrong, as others have pointed out.

jem16

molerat said:

jem16 said:

2. In the section where you note that anyone who was contracted out and had 30 years would be unlikely to benefit, it should be mentioned that it is still possible but only contributions made from April 2016 onwards will make a difference. 

Pre 2016 additional contributions could make a difference even with 30 years + and contracted out though, it all depends on the sizes of the COPE and S2P, the 30+ extra 47ps can make a difference.  The only time it definitely cannot make a difference is with 35 + pre 2016 years.

Yes you're correct. I've read some people saying that the Starting Amount cannot be changed but of course it can if pre 2016 years are increased. 

Audaxer

I think that the following paragraph at the start of the guide should make it clear that even if you are eligible to plug NI gaps before 2016 back to 2006, plugging these gaps still might not increase your State Pension,
"To make it easier to get the full state pension there are transitional arrangements in place for those on this 'new' system. These mean people reaching state pension age on or after 6 April 2016 can pay to plug gaps in their NI record dating all the way back to 2006. But you need to act quickly if you want to do this, as this transitional arrangement ends on 5 April 2023, after which you'll only be able to plug gaps going back six years."

The following "Important Message" doesn't seem to be correct at all as I had 40 full years Ni contributions up to 2016, had been contracted out, but am still making voluntary payments which is increasing my forecast.
"Important. If you were 'contracted out' of the additional state pension and already had 30 NI years by April 2016, topping up isn't likely to help
This is because your 30 NI years already qualifies you for the maximum 'starting amount' of state pension and paying for extra NI years won't boost how much you get. Yet, being 'contracted out' usually means you were contributing to another pension, with the idea that this would supplement your state pension."

jem16

Audaxer said:

The following "Important Message" doesn't seem to be correct at all as I had 40 full years Ni contributions up to 2016, had been contracted out, but am still making voluntary payments which is increasing my forecast.
"Important. If you were 'contracted out' of the additional state pension and already had 30 NI years by April 2016, topping up isn't likely to help
This is because your 30 NI years already qualifies you for the maximum 'starting amount' of state pension and paying for extra NI years won't boost how much you get. Yet, being 'contracted out' usually means you were contributing to another pension, with the idea that this would supplement your state pension."

I’m the same. Well over 35 years by April 2016. I’ve made a mixture of voluntary NICs and NI Credits since 2016 and have increased my state pension by around £31pw. I can’t get to a full new state pension even with making those contributions as I still need another 2 years but have run out of time now. 

molerat

Audaxer said:

The following "Important Message" doesn't seem to be correct at all as I had 40 full years Ni contributions up to 2016, had been contracted out, but am still making voluntary payments which is increasing my forecast.
"Important. If you were 'contracted out' of the additional state pension and already had 30 NI years by April 2016, topping up isn't likely to help
This is because your 30 NI years already qualifies you for the maximum 'starting amount' of state pension and paying for extra NI years won't boost how much you get. Yet, being 'contracted out' usually means you were contributing to another pension, with the idea that this would supplement your state pension."

They are referring to topping up pre 2016 years, still incorrect though

As I said in my earlier post it all depends on the amount of COPE and S2P

jem16

molerat said:

Audaxer said:

The following "Important Message" doesn't seem to be correct at all as I had 40 full years Ni contributions up to 2016, had been contracted out, but am still making voluntary payments which is increasing my forecast.
"Important. If you were 'contracted out' of the additional state pension and already had 30 NI years by April 2016, topping up isn't likely to help
This is because your 30 NI years already qualifies you for the maximum 'starting amount' of state pension and paying for extra NI years won't boost how much you get. Yet, being 'contracted out' usually means you were contributing to another pension, with the idea that this would supplement your state pension."

They are referring to topping up pre 2016 years, still incorrect though

As I said in my earlier post it all depends on the amount of COPE and S2P

They might be but even that's not too clear.