Guide discussion: Voluntary national insurance contributions

molerat

You now need to decide if it is worth paying the past years as the forecast shows you have enough years going forward to get there.

MEConfusedaboutpensions

I don't understand. I was born in 1961.
What's the need to to up NI credits, when pension credit automatically tops you up to the full pension amount anyway?

Sarahspangles

MEConfusedaboutpensions said:

I don't understand. I was born in 1961.
What's the need to to up NI credits, when pension credit automatically tops you up to the full pension amount anyway?

If the State Pension is going to be your only income in later life, and you don’t expect to have more than very modest savings either, then there may be good reason not to purchase years so that you qualify for pension credit. Currently there is an advantage for some to being a little below the max state pension, as pension credit entitles to other benefits. However it’s unclear whether that will always be the case. And it’s going to be a very frugal retirement either way.

If you have other pensions or savings which will rule out qualifying for pension credit then the cost of credits is worthwhile, as the payback time is good. Inflation proofing of the state pension is currently good too.

March20

I couldn’t pay online for topping up contributions last week but now see I have 8 options to do so. I had 30 years contributions and it says I need to add 8 to get full pension as I was contracted out, which I was. I am thinking my online options would be same as speaking to someone on phone as they probably use same calculation  and it says online pay 8 and get full pension. I am worried as if I can now pay online DWP advisor  might not call me back ?

molerat

Having the option should not prevent a call back.  But if you post up some details someone will sense check it and you may then be able to go ahead with the on line option.

Current weekly £££.pp amount up to April 2024.
Number of full NI years 15-16 and earlier
Number of full NI years 16-17 and later
Tax year you reach state retirement
Any COPE amount.  If you have "You've been in a contracted-out pension scheme" on your forecast then click
here https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account/cope whilst logged into your tax account
Years which show not full and prices

ironlady2022

Just checked for my Mum and she's not able to pay online. If we don't get to speak to someone before 5th April, is there another way to ring up and just pay?

molerat

If you book a call back the clock is stopped and you will be dealt with as if it was when you booked the call however long it takes them to get back to you. The last timescale I saw was 6 weeks but that is probably getting longer. Request a call back to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions - GOV.UK Take screenshots of the application and the confirmation.

mountainsandoceans

I've just tried to complete the CF83 form online. On the CF83 webpage I clicked apply online. It asked for my government gateway details which I provided. The next page I got was: 

"Access denied.
We are sorry, but this page is restricted.
Organisations cannot access this form."

But I'm not an organisation so I'm a bit confused. Has this happened to anyone else? Any advice as to how to fix it? 

jem16

mountainsandoceans said:

But I'm not an organisation so I'm a bit confused. Has this happened to anyone else? Any advice as to how to fix it? 

Are you registered via an accountant to do your tax returns?

mountainsandoceans

jem16 said:

mountainsandoceans said:

But I'm not an organisation so I'm a bit confused. Has this happened to anyone else? Any advice as to how to fix it? 

Are you registered via an accountant to do your tax returns?

I've worked out that a long long time ago I filled in a self-assessed tax return for something so I think I was classed as self employed then. I had a phone call with HMRC some point after that and confirmed I no longer needed to fill in my own tax returns and that there didn't seem to be anything else I needed to do. 
I never had an accountant, but I wonder if that's why I'm classed as an organisation rather than an individual? 
I wonder if there's anything I can do to change that? Whether I could re-confirm that I'm no longer self employed?