Guide discussion: Voluntary national insurance contributions

molerat

You need another 7 years to reach the full amount and have 11 years left to get there.  Your starting amount is under the old rules so pre 2016 years will add £4.73 per year and you can safely purchase all 5 available as you will still be under the 30 max useable.  Post 2016 will add £5.29 each so buying the available 5 pre and 2 post 2016 will leave you 88p short of the full amount.  I very much doubt the goalposts will be moved in the relatively short timescale to 2033, a 10 year notice promise was previously made.  You have 6 post 2016 years available at the same price so I don't see the point of buying less bang for your buck years when they cost the same, a couple are actually cheaper. The bigger problem is the price jump in April to £907.40.

muttleyb

Thank you for your reply, molerat. I didn't know that the pre-2016 years added a lower amount, so I will disregard them and pay the post-2016 years. My understanding is that I need to phone HMRC to get the unique payment reference; I will hopefully get through before the end of the tax year(!) otherwise I will take the hit and pay at the higher rate in April. 

Thanks again, your input is much appreciated. 

Sumselkb

I tried phoning HMRC again today but cannot even get as far as being put on hold, just told they are too busy and told to try again later before getting disconnected.

molerat

Sumselkb said:

I tried phoning HMRC again today but cannot even get as far as being put on hold, just told they are too busy and told to try again later before getting disconnected.

7.55am is probably the best time to try.

Sumselkb

molerat said:

Sumselkb said:

I tried phoning HMRC again today but cannot even get as far as being put on hold, just told they are too busy and told to try again later before getting disconnected.

7.55am is probably the best time to try.

I'll try that tomorrow morning as I don't start work until the afternoon. But if I don't get through then I will have to wait a while because I have a lot of shifts for work that start at 7am coming up.

p00hsticks

Sumselkb said:

molerat said:

Sumselkb said:

I tried phoning HMRC again today but cannot even get as far as being put on hold, just told they are too busy and told to try again later before getting disconnected.

7.55am is probably the best time to try.

I'll try that tomorrow morning as I don't start work until the afternoon. But if I don't get through then I will have to wait a while because I have a lot of shifts for work that start at 7am coming up.

I thought that we'd established earlier that you had plenty of time going forward for you to reach the maximum forecast through future working and that there was little point in paying to fill gaps ?

molerat

p00hsticks said:

Sumselkb said:

molerat said:

Sumselkb said:

I tried phoning HMRC again today but cannot even get as far as being put on hold, just told they are too busy and told to try again later before getting disconnected.

7.55am is probably the best time to try.

I'll try that tomorrow morning as I don't start work until the afternoon. But if I don't get through then I will have to wait a while because I have a lot of shifts for work that start at 7am coming up.

I thought that we'd established earlier that you had plenty of time going forward for you to reach the maximum forecast through future working and that there was little point in paying to fill gaps ?

I think there were a couple of votes for paying at least one

For the three years between 2006-2007 and 2017-18 where the year is not full, one is under £20, one is under £100 and the other was around £180 if I remember correctly.

A point that was brought up on the ML show last night.

Aes_Sedai

Hello,

First post! This thread has been really helpful to get my head around voluntary contributions.

I’m 39. My online forecast and records show 16 years of full contributions and just one pre-2016 year with no contribution (this is normal – I moved to the UK in Feb 2009 and wasn’t employed in that tax year). I’m a bit puzzled about the ‘16 years’ given that 2009/2010 to 2021/2022 is 13 years – how is that number calculated? Not that I’m complaining of course.

I understand that to max out my state pension, I need another 16 years of contributions (excluding the current 2022/2023 tax year for which I’ll have full contributions already) with 29 years to do it, which sounds very doable on paper.

Based on the current system I suppose that in theory I don’t need to pay the one missing pre-2016 year if I do work at least 16 additional years – unless I were to stop working early for whatever reason (hopefully a good one!)

I don't know what the future holds so is there some value in making that missing contribution now just to get another year in the bag sooner? The state pension age may well be pushed beyond 70 in the future, or the number of required future contributions change, or something else. Is it a gamble worth taking? I could pay the £824.20 now but there may be better uses for that money. One risk is that this could be wasted entirely.

I haven’t attempted to phone the Future Pension Centre for guidance yet but believe they’ll say I don’t need to pay the missing year based on my profile. Any thoughts gratefully received!

Cheers

 

Key notes from my online forecast and NI records:

You can get your State Pension on xx xx 2051

• Your forecast is £185.15 a week, £805.07 a month, £9,660.86 a year.
• Estimate based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2022: £98.89 a week
• Forecast if you contribute another 17 years before 5 April 2051: £185.15 a week

You have:

• 16 years of full contributions
• 29 years to contribute before 5 April 2051
• 1 year when you did not contribute enough

 

2022 to 2023

Your record for this year is not available yet

 

2021 to 2022

Full year

 

(…)   [all intermediate years are ‘full’]

 

2009 to 2010

Full year

 

2008 to 2009

Year is not full

You did not make any contributions this year

You can make up the shortfall

Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2023. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2023.

molerat

Aes_Sedai said:

Hello,

First post! This thread has been really helpful to get my head around voluntary contributions.

I’m 39. My online forecast and records show 16 years of full contributions and just one pre-2016 year with no contribution (this is normal – I moved to the UK in Feb 2009 and wasn’t employed in that tax year). I’m a bit puzzled about the ‘16 years’ given that 2009/2010 to 2021/2022 is 13 years – how is that number calculated? Not that I’m complaining of course.

I understand that to max out my state pension, I need another 16 years of contributions (excluding the current 2022/2023 tax year for which I’ll have full contributions already) with 29 years to do it, which sounds very doable on paper.

Based on the current system I suppose that in theory I don’t need to pay the one missing pre-2016 year if I do work at least 16 additional years – unless I were to stop working early for whatever reason (hopefully a good one!)

I don't know what the future holds so is there some value in making that missing contribution now just to get another year in the bag sooner? The state pension age may well be pushed beyond 70 in the future, or the number of required future contributions change, or something else. Is it a gamble worth taking? I could pay the £824.20 now but there may be better uses for that money. One risk is that this could be wasted entirely.

I haven’t attempted to phone the Future Pension Centre for guidance yet but believe they’ll say I don’t need to pay the missing year based on my profile. Any thoughts gratefully received!

Cheers

 

Key notes from my online forecast and NI records:

You can get your State Pension on xx xx 2051

• Your forecast is £185.15 a week, £805.07 a month, £9,660.86 a year.
• Estimate based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2022: £98.89 a week
• Forecast if you contribute another 17 years before 5 April 2051: £185.15 a week

You have:

• 16 years of full contributions
• 29 years to contribute before 5 April 2051
• 1 year when you did not contribute enough

 

2022 to 2023

Your record for this year is not available yet

 

2021 to 2022

Full year

 

(…)   [all intermediate years are ‘full’]

 

2009 to 2010

Full year

 

2008 to 2009

Year is not full

You did not make any contributions this year

You can make up the shortfall

Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2023. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2023.

As you have a NI record pre 2010 you were give 3 free years for when you reached 16, 17 & 18 ........ even though you were not resident at that time

You have 29 years to get the necessary 17 so in all honesty I wouldn't bother getting that gap filled at full price.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Only you can answer that.

If you expect to continue working and accrue the extra 17 years then it would be a waste of money.

But if it gives you piece of mind then you might see it as money well spent.  Even if ultimately unnecessary.