National Insurance contributions - incomplete years.

CatheH

Why are incomplete years of NI contributions not aggregated to be included in total years contributions?  I know that incomplete years can be be made up by buying/paying for the remainder of a year, but it seems unfair to have part years not included in the total, especially if you can’t afford the cost of making up the payments. My daughter has at least 3 partial years where she worked between University, will it be worth paying to  make those up to full years? 

molerat

Because that is not how it works is the simple answer.  Whether part years are worth making up depends on the overall picture.

xylophone

What exactly does your daughter's state pension forecast say?

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

baser999

That checker can be a real pain in the rear. My partner set up a gateway account a few years ago but it seems she has been locked out due to lack of use. Has tried everything to get back in - system apparently needs to verify her identity so she’s been asked to scan her driving licence, then the passport (the photograph page as well as the biometric chip) All done, system says ok all accepted, but still unable to verify who she is 😡 Suggested that she calls and what a pain that is. 

Eventually spoke to a human who agreed to send out the statement of incomplete years but instead of it saying what she needs to pay it simply notes what NIRP she could expect in 2033! However it does give access to an online request for an incomplete years summary which she’s completed but this is then posted out and could be ‘several weeks’