HMRC, not pension service.

ottersteve01

I wanted to take advantage of the N.I gap years to enhance my weekly pension, using the MSE money tips first published on 18th May 2022.
I'm afraid the information in the MSE article (8th June 2022)  is incorrect. It states  - if you are already at pension age:

Contact the Pension Service on 0800 731 0469

Wrong. You must contact HMRC on 0300 200 3500 where a very nice person will sort it all out for you in a jiffy.

MSE_Laura_F

Hello @ottersteve01, thanks for this. I checked with my colleague for clarification and they told me:

"Once customers have checked they should pay voluntary NICs, customers should then contact the national insurance inquiries number to find out how much to pay and to receive their reference number in order to make payment. But initially they should contact the Pension Service as per our guide."

Best,

MSE Laura F

Albermarle

Normally the forum posters recommend to contact The Future Pension Centre, which has a different number. Nor sure if this applies to people who have already reached state pension age though.

Contact the Future Pension Centre - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

gm0

You end up talking to both unless you have already finalised what you want to pay.

DWP FPC first (if you need to speak about what years/when pre/post New State Pension and your forecast)

HMRC second (to sort out payment references in the arcane way they still do it)

Backdrop:

HMRC think of NI as a tax i.e. money coming in - and thus belongs to them (it is). 
And don't trust those departments focused on "spending"

DWP TPS (Future Pension Centre) think paying out pensions belongs to them and is rules that they know about (it does).  They administer SP, PC, Overseas etc.

A source of contention between the two has always been the allocation of NINOs in the first place and who has the "master list"

Naturally no senior civvie worthy of his Humphrey Appleby badge ever chopped a chunk of organisation off and gave it to another perm sec willingly.

50-60 years at least this has been going on

Two call centres - hey ho

p00hsticks

ottersteve01 said:

I wanted to take advantage of the N.I gap years to enhance my weekly pension, using the MSE money tips first published on 18th May 2022.
I'm afraid the information in the MSE article (8th June 2022)  is incorrect. It states  - if you are already at pension age:

Contact the Pension Service on 0800 731 0469

Wrong. You must contact HMRC on 0300 200 3500 where a very nice person will sort it all out for you in a jiffy.

Buying additional years won't necessarily enhance your state pension - it depends on when those years are and your individual circumstances. So, as others have suggested,  and MSE say, the recommendation is to first contact the Future Pension Centre (or Pension Service if already over SPA) for advice on whether buying the extra years is advisable and if so which gaps to fill. As you have pointed out, you then need to contact HMRC to actually buy the years (and they will often ask if you have checked with the Pension Service to see if it's worth your while first, and suggest you do if you haven;t already before paying anything.

DavidL1

Having already retired my wife contacted the Pension Service on May 27th 2022 after first seeing this advice. She was advised that she should receive a letter in a couple of weeks.

Not having received anything by 10th June, she rang them again when she was reassured her case was progressing and a letter should be sent out soon; and oddly, if they had to look at any details of the enquiry it would result in it then going to the back of the queue!

It's now Nov 2022 and she's still not heard anything from them.

Has anyone managed to get any response from the Pension Service?

calcotti

The Pension Service appears to be in meltdown at the moment with long delays.

DavidL1

Not good news then - especially as April 2023 is looming and there will be a load of people asking the same thing now after Martin's recent TV show on it.
Delaying tactic perhaps?

nigelbb

Albermarle said:

Normally the forum posters recommend to contact The Future Pension Centre, which has a different number. Nor sure if this applies to people who have already reached state pension age though.

Contact the Future Pension Centre - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

I spoke to the Future Pensions Centre after I was receiving my pension. A very knowledgable guy rang me back a couple of weeks later & explained how my pension had been calculated. He confirmed that I couldn't increase my pension by purchasing any of the pre-2016 years that were available.

DavidL1

We did email the FPC (accidentally), and they replied saying "not us guv" - it's the Pension Service you need. 

Albermarle

DavidL1 said:

Not good news then - especially as April 2023 is looming and there will be a load of people asking the same thing now after Martin's recent TV show on it.
Delaying tactic perhaps?

Maybe more down to the 'load of people' swamping them after the TV show.