State pension award letter - include statement of voluntary years and "credit" years?

Pat38493

dunroving said:

It seems rather strange (perverse, almost) to allow someone to pay for something they don't need, and that won't benefit them. (But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen!) I'll post back here when I find further information, for future readers of the thread.
 

I believe it's called "capitalism" 

dunroving

Marcon said:

dunroving said:

Just a brief update of my findings so far, in case anybody else has a similar question (I often find threads on MSE where the OP asks a question, gets helpful advice, but does not follow up with a conclusion of what was learned).

I called FBU in London and they confirmed my understanding of the situation (WEP only applies to employment-based NICs years). However, they did not know, or have experience of, how this might be demonstrated by the recipient. So, on to HMRC ...

... the person at HMRC said that I can get a "statement of account", which is an official HMRC letter stating what years/how many years I have contributions for, and what type of contribution. He is going to send me one currently, so I can confirm what it says for the voluntary contribution years. He was less able to help in regard to two years of NICs credits I have for attending 6th form back in the 1970s - even on his system, there was no additional information other than to say I was "paid up" for those two years, so to speak.

He then talked with a supervisor and called me back to say that it is possible to request a breakdown for the pre-1975 years. I guess I'll know what that looks like when I get the statement of account I'll post back here when I receive it. But, in the meantime it looks like the answer to my primary question is that I will need an award letter (to say how much UK state pension I will receive), and a statement of account (to document the proportion of that amount that is due to non-employment based contributions).

Thank you for making time to post that information. Interesting reading.

Try this: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/DPU_SAR_NI?_ga=2.230026460.1544670040.1621021753-1315656139.1609178084 and indicate on your request that you require the pre-75 tax years. You'll then get a response to the effect that it will 'take ages' but you may find it takes only a couple of weeks, depending on their workload at the time. I'd get on and make your request now, in case what you get as a result of your conversation with HMRC isn't quite what you expected.  If you make a SAR, what you get for pre-75 looks like this (which with luck will be what you need, since your two years in sixth form will show 'No employers recorded' unless you had a Saturday job or similar which paid enough to nudge you into graduated pension territory - unlikely, given your age/earnings for teenagers in the 1970s.

Thought I'd post an update, using Marcon's post as the springboard. Yesterday, I received the letter I requested from HMRC during my call with them - the letter showing my National Insurance record.

Although the call handler said you can request specific information on pre-1975 years, the standard letter did not include anything about pre-1975 years - not even the bog standard statement that I had two years' NI credit of any kind (in other words, the 1973-1975 years were entirely absent).

So, Plan B is to use the letter Marcon linked to, in order to request that information. Watch this space .... 

dunroving

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

dunroving said:

On a separate, and unrelated note, I also learned from HMRC that I can pay voluntary NICs (Class 3) for the "partial year" in which I retire. (I reach retirement age in late April 2023.)

I can therefore pay Class 3 for the year 2023-2024, even though I'm of retirement age just a couple of weeks after that financial year begins. That's good news, as it means I can get an additional year towards my state pension.

Assuming that by "retirement age" you mean your State Pension age then someone has misunderstood something as that's not possible.

You cannot get a qualifying year for the tax year you reach State Pension age in. 

So the final year you could add is 2022:23.

Just another update to help clarify things for others who come across this thread, and to avoid any confusing or incorrect information.

I received a message from the Future Pension Centre, in response to a query I sent the, Part of their message is excerpted below:

"A qualifying year can only be made for full tax years. As you reach State Pension age within the tax year in question this would not be possible to make as a qualifying year."

So, as per Dazed's statement above, and contrary to HMRC's assurance that I can make a voluntary NIC payment for the year in which I retire, that year cannot be used to qualify for state pension. So, I can pay it, but it will do me no good. ;-) 

calcotti

dunroving said:?.. So, I can pay it, but it will do me no good. ;-) 

Bit they’ll be glad to take your money!