Guide discussion: Voluntary national insurance contributions

blobthebuilder

QrizB said:

What makes you think that?

It’s on the government website https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/what-youll-get.

“If your National Insurance record started before April 2016

 If you were contracted out, you will usually need more than 35 qualifying years to get the full rate of new State Pension.”

So implicitly people who weren’t contracted out require only 35 years.

QrizB said:

You are not paying for years when you were contracted out. Years that you were contracted out will already be full.
You will be paying for years where you weren't paying NI at all.

Thanks for correcting this misapprehension. It makes sense because the ability to contract out ceased when the new state pension was introduced in 2016. The three years the DWP told me I was able to buy were from 2016-2019, when I paid no NI contributions, and I started receiving my state pension in March 2020.

QrizB said:

Yes, there are plenty of reports on this forum of people getting their magic number from HMRC.

It seems I was unduly pessimistic about being able to contact HMRC to obtain the magic number. It took 40 minutes to be connected to someone on Web Chat, but that was a good deal less than I feared would be the case.

QrizB

blobthebuilder said:

QrizB said:

What makes you think that?

It’s on the government website https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/what-youll-get.

“If your National Insurance record started before April 2016

 If you were contracted out, you will usually need more than 35 qualifying years to get the full rate of new State Pension.”

So implicitly people who weren’t contracted out require only 35 years.

You're reading that too narrowly. People who weren't contacted out might need 35 years, or might need a lot less. Some people on this forum have reported getting the full NSP with less than 30 years (mid-20s, I think).

denisesm60

Hi
I have gaps in my record since finishing work in February 2020. i am looking into paying my 2 missing years. I am confused by the amounts. On my state pension forecast it says I need to pay £923 for the tax year 2022/2023, but when i go onto HMRC voluntary contribution rates it states for that tax year it is £15.85 pw making a total of £824.20.
Does anyone know why there is a difference. 
Thank you

jem16

 denisesm60 said:

Hi
I have gaps in my record since finishing work in February 2020. i am looking into paying my 2 missing years. I am confused by the amounts. On my state pension forecast it says I need to pay £923 for the tax year 2022/2023, but when i go onto HMRC voluntary contribution rates it states for that tax year it is £15.85 pw making a total of £824.20.
Does anyone know why there is a difference. 
Thank you

The price increases to current rates two years after the end of the tax year. So the correct price for that year is now £923 u less you had requested a callback pre 6th April which stopped the deadline clock. 

denisesm60

i think it is a little misleading on the site looks like they havent rolled it over for anther tax year, even at that rate it is £17.45 pw £907.40.

You can pay voluntary National Insurance to fill or avoid gaps in your record.

If you’re paying voluntary contributions for the previous 2 tax years (2023 to 2024 or 2022 to 2023), you’ll pay the original rates for those years.

For all other years you’ll pay the current rate (2024 to 2025).

£ per week	2025 to 2026	2024 to 2025	2023 to 2024	2022 to 2023
Class 3 rate	£17.75	£17.45	£17.45	£15.85

jem16

denisesm60 said:

i think it is a little misleading on the site looks like they havent rolled it over for anther tax year, even at that rate it is £17.45 pw £907.40.

You can pay voluntary National Insurance to fill or avoid gaps in your record.

If you’re paying voluntary contributions for the previous 2 tax years (2023 to 2024 or 2022 to 2023), you’ll pay the original rates for those years.

For all other years you’ll pay the current rate (2024 to 2025).

£ per week	2025 to 2026	2024 to 2025	2023 to 2024	2022 to 2023
Class 3 rate	£17.75	£17.45	£17.45	£15.85

This year’s rates are £17.45pw which is £923pa. That’s the price which now applies to tax year 2022/23. 

molerat

Your forecast is correct and, as you have spotted, they have not correctly updated that page.

GanDoonToonPet

pecunianonolet said:

What are the timelines or where can one find out how long it will take HMRC to allocate paid class 2 and 3 payments to the NI record? 

Payments were made early April by FP so I am aware it's been only ca 5 weeks and HMRC quotes to get in touch if not allocated after 8 weeks. However, I think they have a large backlog. 

According to the last estimate I saw on the (now defunct) HMRC pension forum, the time from payment to updating NI record was 65 weeks.

I paid for a mixture of class 2 and 3 back in Feb and my record still hasn't been updated. 

skycatcher

GanDoonToonPet said:

pecunianonolet said:

What are the timelines or where can one find out how long it will take HMRC to allocate paid class 2 and 3 payments to the NI record? 

Payments were made early April by FP so I am aware it's been only ca 5 weeks and HMRC quotes to get in touch if not allocated after 8 weeks. However, I think they have a large backlog. 

According to the last estimate I saw on the (now defunct) HMRC pension forum, the time from payment to updating NI record was 65 weeks.

I paid for a mixture of class 2 and 3 back in Feb and my record still hasn't been updated. 

After raising a formal complaint with hmrc as mine hadn't updated after paying in April I was told that they didn't update the NI record until December but as i was due to get my pension before that date they manually put it through! Begs the question why you would bother paying them much before that date!

jem16

skycatcher said:

GanDoonToonPet said:

pecunianonolet said:

What are the timelines or where can one find out how long it will take HMRC to allocate paid class 2 and 3 payments to the NI record? 

Payments were made early April by FP so I am aware it's been only ca 5 weeks and HMRC quotes to get in touch if not allocated after 8 weeks. However, I think they have a large backlog. 

According to the last estimate I saw on the (now defunct) HMRC pension forum, the time from payment to updating NI record was 65 weeks.

I paid for a mixture of class 2 and 3 back in Feb and my record still hasn't been updated. 

After raising a formal complaint with hmrc as mine hadn't updated after paying in April I was told that they didn't update the NI record until December but as i was due to get my pension before that date they manually put it through! Begs the question why you would bother paying them much before that date!

It’s also not true. My son paid voluntary Class 2 in May and was updated within a week. Previous payments took much longer but December had nothing to do with any of them.