Unable to pay for voluntary national insurance before the cutoff date

bailsinbarnsley

Hi, I telephoned the Dept for Work and Pensions today to ask why I haven't received the letter setting out the cost and benefits of paying for voluntary national insurance which I requested in November. It was the only way I can pay for it because I am 66 and already receiving state pension. The chap I spoke to said "you won't like what I'm going to tell you, we have to get your information from another department and they are running a 6 month backlog so we haven't received the details to send it to you". I explained that I only have until the end of March to get this done before the system paying voluntary national insurance will no longer be available. He agreed and said he doesn't know what the solution is and to ring back in a month when he hopes they have found a fix to the problem. Has anyone else come across this problem and know if the is anything I can do?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

bailsinbarnsley said:

Hi, I telephoned the Dept for Work and Pensions today to ask why I haven't received the letter setting out the cost and benefits of paying for voluntary national insurance which I requested in November. It was the only way I can pay for it because I am 66 and already receiving state pension. The chap I spoke to said "you won't like what I'm going to tell you, we have to get your information from another department and they are running a 6 month backlog so we haven't received the details to send it to you". I explained that I only have until the end of March to get this done before the system paying voluntary national insurance will no longer be available. He agreed and said he doesn't know what the solution is and to ring back in a month when he hopes they have found a fix to the problem. Has anyone else come across this problem and know if the is anything I can do?

Most people on here just provide sufficient detail for the forum experts to tell you which years are/aren't worth paying for.

Much quicker than DWP 😊

molerat

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

bailsinbarnsley said:

Hi, I telephoned the Dept for Work and Pensions today to ask why I haven't received the letter setting out the cost and benefits of paying for voluntary national insurance which I requested in November. It was the only way I can pay for it because I am 66 and already receiving state pension. The chap I spoke to said "you won't like what I'm going to tell you, we have to get your information from another department and they are running a 6 month backlog so we haven't received the details to send it to you". I explained that I only have until the end of March to get this done before the system paying voluntary national insurance will no longer be available. He agreed and said he doesn't know what the solution is and to ring back in a month when he hopes they have found a fix to the problem. Has anyone else come across this problem and know if the is anything I can do?

Most people on here just provide sufficient detail for the forum experts to tell you which years are/aren't worth paying for.

Much quicker than DWP 😊

Yep, it ain't rocket science as they say

Current amount

Financial year in which SP age reached

Number of pre 2016 years held

Number of post 2016 years held

COPE amount if available

Gap years and cost

p00hsticks

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

bailsinbarnsley said:

Hi, I telephoned the Dept for Work and Pensions today to ask why I haven't received the letter setting out the cost and benefits of paying for voluntary national insurance which I requested in November. It was the only way I can pay for it because I am 66 and already receiving state pension. The chap I spoke to said "you won't like what I'm going to tell you, we have to get your information from another department and they are running a 6 month backlog so we haven't received the details to send it to you". I explained that I only have until the end of March to get this done before the system paying voluntary national insurance will no longer be available. He agreed and said he doesn't know what the solution is and to ring back in a month when he hopes they have found a fix to the problem. Has anyone else come across this problem and know if the is anything I can do?

Most people on here just provide sufficient detail for the forum experts to tell you which years are/aren't worth paying for.

Much quicker than DWP 😊

It would be - but the OP says that they have already turned 66 and are claiming a state pension, which means that that 'sufficent detail' isn't necessarily going to be available unless the OP asked for and retained a State Pension Forecast prior to reaching SPA. They won't be able to get an online forecast now.

OP - can you tell us how much state pension you are currently getting, and what the gaps are in your NI record (you should be able to see these via your online tax account)

bailsinbarnsley

I know roughly what I would receive by paying for the maximum mixed years. I currently get £143 pet week and would get £180 if I pay them £4,200. However, that's not my point. I need a letter from them saying precisely how much I need to give them before I can ring them back for them to give me the details to instruct my bank to pay them. I know this because I did it for my wife's pension a few months ago and back then it took 3 months from start to finish but now they are saying because of Martin Lewis advice the backlog has gone up to six months and this would take me beyond the cut off date of when the scheme ends.

xylophone

now they are saying because of Martin Lewis advice the backlog has gone up to six months

Oh spare me! Any excuse is better than none....?

bailsinbarnsley

I don't care who or what is causing the delay. I would simply like a resolution or some constructive advice.

bailsinbarnsley

To clarify, my wife paid £4,894.20 to add six years voluntary contributions and as we are both roughly the same age at 66,  I would expect to pay roughly the same but need the exact amount from HMRC to instruct my bank to pay them.

molerat

bailsinbarnsley said:

I know roughly what I would receive by paying for the maximum mixed years. I currently get £143 pet week and would get £180 if I pay them £4,200. However, that's not my point. I need a letter from them saying precisely how much I need to give them before I can ring them back for them to give me the details to instruct my bank to pay them. I know this because I did it for my wife's pension a few months ago and back then it took 3 months from start to finish but now they are saying because of Martin Lewis advice the backlog has gone up to six months and this would take me beyond the cut off date of when the scheme ends.

Do you have access to your on line NI record ?

p00hsticks

bailsinbarnsley said:

To clarify, my wife paid £4,894.20 to add six years voluntary contributions and as we are both roughly the same age at 66,  I would expect to pay roughly the same but need the exact amount from HMRC to instruct my bank to pay them.

I think you're possibly making heavy weather of this. 

Your NI record is available via your online tax account or state pension forecast. That will show what gaps you have in your record.

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

If it is complete missing years that you wish to pay, then the rates for Voluntary Class 3 contributions for the current and previous three years are available here

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-national-insurance-contributions/rates-and-allowances-national-insurance-contributions#class-3-national-insurance-voluntary

Details for years further back are here

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/main-features-of-national-insurance-contributions

If there are part years then I beleive that either your online state pension forecast and/or your online NI tax account record will tell you how many weeks are missing and therefore how many weeks you need to pay to make them full, but not having any part years myself I can't confirm that.

You don't say exactly how you intend 'instructing your bank' to pay HMRC but note that you'll also need to obtain a reference from HMRC to make the payments unless you intend phoning or writing to HMRC.

https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance

xylophone

Do you have access to your on line NI record ?

Try here?

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record