Trying to contact the Future Pension Centre is very painfull !

TreborLien

After spending numerous days and many hours on 2 line simultaneusly, taking upto 30+ minutes to get on the queue, only to be cut off after about 40+ minutes many times, I tried something different. When she said "press 1 for english", then she speaks in Welsh, I pressed 2, and got through to someone really helpful striaght away.

pinnks

mikewill34 said:

p00hsticks said:

mikewill34 said:

My wife has been trying to get in touch with the Future Pension Centre since yesterday with abosolutely NO LUCK.

Each time she phones, she has to go through the menu then wait a few seconds then gets diconnected.

Assuming that she's phoning them to ask what years she needs to buy to boost her pension, then if she has already obtained a state pension forecast, get her to post the details up here and people will probably be able to tell her just the same as the Future Pension Centre would. 

I am NOT going to post personal details here.
Yes I agree that the FPC will probably say exactly to same as that on the State Pension Forecast pages.

HOWEVER I can't find any means or instructions on how to pay AVCs

Nobody should post personal details on here, but if you post details of what amount your forecast shows based on the NI record to 5 April 2022, how that can increase if you continue paying future years and the other info that folk on here like molerat ask for, they can tell you whether paying years will be beneficial.  Personally, I see no risk in posting such info as we are all working with the same info - number of years on an NI record, what a pension forecast forecasts and so on but at the end of the day whether or not anyone posts is personal choice.  Whatever you decide, I hope you manage to get your questions answered.

mikewill34

TreborLien said:

After spending numerous days and many hours on 2 line simultaneusly, taking upto 30+ minutes to get on the queue, only to be cut off after about 40+ minutes many times, I tried something different. When she said "press 1 for english", then she speaks in Welsh, I pressed 2, and got through to someone really helpful striaght away.

Just tried that and it just gets a load of "Welsh" speaking and no further :-(

TreborLien

I personally feel that there are many people out there who have no idea about there contributions to state pension, how many years they are short, and how little they may need to pay to top up some of there years to give them a little bit more when they do claim state pension. I only found out that my wife was some years short after watching a Martin Lewis show, and have now topped up her state pension for her.

mikewill34

The whole system is a JOKE, I have searched a bit more and found that you need a unique 16 digit number for each year which you want to plug the gap for.

But obtaining these numbers is like searching for rocking horse poo.

molerat

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

But unless you know exactly how paying each year will affect the pension amount, some years available to buy will add nothing, that is of no use.

artyboy

mikewill34 said:

p00hsticks said:

mikewill34 said:

My wife has been trying to get in touch with the Future Pension Centre since yesterday with abosolutely NO LUCK.

Each time she phones, she has to go through the menu then wait a few seconds then gets diconnected.

Assuming that she's phoning them to ask what years she needs to buy to boost her pension, then if she has already obtained a state pension forecast, get her to post the details up here and people will probably be able to tell her just the same as the Future Pension Centre would. 

I am NOT going to post personal details here.
Yes I agree that the FPC will probably say exactly to same as that on the State Pension Forecast pages.

HOWEVER I can't find any means or instructions on how to pay AVCs

What, you mean like the full name you put in your signature? Or is that just a cunning pseudonym to throw us off the scent 

ETA: Actually, it's not at all - OP you might want to consider that anyone on here with 1 minute of googling will know exactly who you are in real life. If you're fine with that then all well and good. Although it does rather seem at odds with your point about personal information...

mikewill34

molerat said:

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

But unless you know exactly how paying each year will affect the pension amount, some years available to buy will add nothing, that is of no use.

That web page takes you to a form which asks :-

What is your Class 3 National Insurance reference number?

This is 18 characters and begins with 60. For example 603490017829614130. You’ll find it on your bill.

The 18 character NI ref number seems to be unique per year and as easy to find as getting a trip to mars in my lifetime.

Linton

mikewill34 said:

p00hsticks said:

mikewill34 said:

My wife has been trying to get in touch with the Future Pension Centre since yesterday with abosolutely NO LUCK.

Each time she phones, she has to go through the menu then wait a few seconds then gets diconnected.

Assuming that she's phoning them to ask what years she needs to buy to boost her pension, then if she has already obtained a state pension forecast, get her to post the details up here and people will probably be able to tell her just the same as the Future Pension Centre would. 

I am NOT going to post personal details here.
Yes I agree that the FPC will probably say exactly to same as that on the State Pension Forecast pages.

HOWEVER I can't find any means or instructions on how to pay AVCs

We dohnt need to see your personal details (name, address etc) just the numbers on the State Pension.However if you dont need any help, fine.  To pay Voluntary contributions phone HMRC or I understand you could just post them a cheque with the details  such as NI number and year for which the contribution applies 

molerat

And if you scroll down a bit further than the big PAY NOW button ?