State pension / reduced paymeny

macconfused

Reached state pension age in May 2022. Application submitted online in February. I have 44 years contributions and after deduction of the years my employer contracted out ,I have 37+ years. I have been told I don't qualify for FULL pension nor can I pay for additional years because I already have paid sufficient years(???).
Neither DWP nor HMRC will explain the calculations involved and it took over 6 months for a response to my telephone enquiry! Has anyone had a similar experience or know how to challenge the decision. I am happy to submitt a tribunal claim if anyone can tell me what forms I need. Thank you

RobM99

Contracted out at any point?

sheramber

OP has stated in his post he was contracted for some years.

RobM99

sheramber said:

OP has stated in his post he was contracted for some years.

Oh yeah - missed that bit!  

calcotti

You may be better posting in the pensions forum. When you do so I suggest you post details of exactly what any correspondence from Pension Service says.

If your post 2016 years are full then possibly you cannot boost the pension. Paying for any years prior to 2016, even if available, is likely to make no difference.

molerat

How much is your current pension amount ? Do you have any NI gaps post 2016 ? When did you stop working ?

Your number of NI years has not been reduced for contracting, if you had 44 you still have 44, that is not the way it works. At April 2016 you were given the higher of your already accrued old pension or new pension with a deduction for contracting out.  You then had the opportunity to increase that amount with post 2016 contributions.  Posting the full details of your pension amount and pre and post 2016 NI years will give people here the basics to help you.

p00hsticks

As calcotti suggests, this topic comes up frequently over on the pensions board. This post has a basic explanation of the rules applied to calculated your 'starting amount' when the new State Pension was introduced in 2016

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79706436#Comment_79706436

It sounds as if, due to you being contracted out, your 'starting amount' was set to the full basic pension amount under the old rules (being higher than the equivalent calculation under the new rules) - perhaps with a little bit more if you were contracted in at any point.

That basic pension amount now stands at £141.85. Every full NI year accumulated since then will have added 1/35th of the new state pension amount (£5.29) to it. So if you worked or were creditted or made voluntary contributions for the six years between April 2016 and April 2022 then this should have added another £31.74 to that starting amount, getting you to a total of £173.59.

If it is less than this amount then you need to look to see if there are any gaps in your NI record to fill, but if there aren't then there is no way you can increase the amount.

If feeling hard done by, you need to near in mind that under the old system, you paid a lower rate of NI than those contracted in, and would only have been expecting that basic £141.85 a week. Under the old system, any additional NI years earned over 30 would not have impacted on your entitlement, whereas the introduction of the new system has enabled you to boost that amount by a further £30 a week over the six years following.

xylophone

Did you obtain a state pension forecast prior to claiming your  pension?

 If so, what exactly did it say?

If not, how many qualifying years did you have at 6/4/16?

How many qualifying years from 6/4/16 - 5/4/22?


How much SP are you currently receiving?