HMRC, not pension service.

p00hsticks

DavidL1 said:

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?

I don't suppose she has a copy of her Pension forecast prior to reaching retirement and access to her NI record ? If she does then people on her shoudl be able to give her some idea as to whether filling in gaps would result in an increase in her pension.

DavidL1

p00hsticks said:

I don't suppose she has a copy of her Pension forecast prior to reaching retirement and access to her NI record ? If she does then people on her shoudl be able to give her some idea as to whether filling in gaps would result in an increase in her pension.

Yes, we have that information and we're aware that there are a number of years that she ought to be able to pay class 3 voluntary contributions for, but I believe we still need confirmation from the Pension Service in order to buy them.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

DavidL1 said:

p00hsticks said:

I don't suppose she has a copy of her Pension forecast prior to reaching retirement and access to her NI record ? If she does then people on her shoudl be able to give her some idea as to whether filling in gaps would result in an increase in her pension.

Yes, we have that information and we're aware that there are a number of years that she ought to be able to pay class 3 voluntary contributions for, but I believe we still need confirmation from the Pension Service in order to buy them.

Not at all, you just need to be certain that they will add to her State Pension 

Plenty of people have posted on here and got detailed explanations as to what each year would add (or not as the case may be).

DavidL1

OK, her NI records show:

26 years of full contributions

23 years when you did not contribute enough

Years between 1996..1999 and 2001...2015 all show:

Year is not full

We are checking this year to see if it counts towards your pension. We’ll update your record when this is finished, you do not need to do anything.

... That "Year is not full" state has always been the same.

p00hsticks

DavidL1 said:

OK, her NI records show:

26 years of full contributions

23 years when you did not contribute enough

Years between 1996..1999 and 2001...2015 all show:

Year is not full

We are checking this year to see if it counts towards your pension. We’ll update your record when this is finished, you do not need to do anything.

... That "Year is not full" state has always been the same.

Do you also have a State Pension forecast for her from before she retired ?

What amounts do that give and what date is the forecast from ?

When exactly did she reach state Pension age and how much weekly state pensino is she currently getting ?

DavidL1

p00hsticks said:

Do you also have a State Pension forecast for her from before she retired ?

What amounts do that give and what date is the forecast from ?

When exactly did she reach state Pension age and how much weekly state pensino is she currently getting ?

1. & 2. No
3. Feb 2022, £137.54

molerat

DavidL1 said:

OK, her NI records show:

26 years of full contributions

23 years when you did not contribute enough

Years between 1996..1999 and 2001...2015 all show:

Year is not full

We are checking this year to see if it counts towards your pension. We’ll update your record when this is finished, you do not need to do anything.

... That "Year is not full" state has always been the same.

Does it give that for all the not full years ?

No amounts shown to pay ?

If so then unfortunately you are an outlying case and need to speak to someone as her NI record is not up to date,  Her NI record needs sorting before anything else can be done.  What was she doing during those gap years ?

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/national-insurance-enquiries-for-employees-and-individuals

In normal circumstances it is a simple case of purchasing the 9 available years from 2006-07 to 2014-15

DavidL1

molerat said:

Does it give that for all the not full years ?

No amounts shown to pay ?

If so then unfortunately you are an outlying case and need to speak to someone as her NI record is not up to date,  Her NI record needs sorting before anything else can be done.  What was she doing during those gap years ?

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/national-insurance-enquiries-for-employees-and-individuals

In normal circumstances it is a simple case of purchasing the 9 available years from 2006-07 to 2014-15

Every entry is the same, there's no amounts to pay shown.
She was an (unofficial) carer for her parents, self-employed (not earning enough for tax, and at that stage unaware that she could have paid class 2 NICs to get the benefit).
She's now put the query in writing to the Pension Service so we'll see if that gets any response.

molerat

self-employed

That is the reason for the checking message then.

Have you checked her record in the past few days as the big annual update has just been run ?

p00hsticks

DavidL1 said:

molerat said:

Does it give that for all the not full years ?

No amounts shown to pay ?

If so then unfortunately you are an outlying case and need to speak to someone as her NI record is not up to date,  Her NI record needs sorting before anything else can be done.  What was she doing during those gap years ?

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/national-insurance-enquiries-for-employees-and-individuals

In normal circumstances it is a simple case of purchasing the 9 available years from 2006-07 to 2014-15

She's now put the query in writing to the Pension Service so we'll see if that gets any response.

I think it's probably HMRC she needs to be writing to in the first instance. As molerat says, you need to get the exact status of all those 'year is not full, we're checking your record..' NI years sorted out before the Pension Serivce (or us) are going to be able to advise on potentially how to improve her pension......

(As I understand it, HMRC maintain a persons NI record, DWP / the Pension Service then use it to determine their eligibility for certain benefits, inclduing the state pension.)