Trying to contact the Future Pension Centre is very painfull !

p00hsticks

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

The Future Pension Centre will be able to advise on whether the years the Pension Forecast shows as being available to buy will actually increase the forecast; the forecast itself won't tell you that, although it contains all the information needed to work it out. 

People here can also give that information - you don't need to provide personal details such as names. addresses, NI number etc. 
All you'd need to give from the forecast is; 

• Headline amount of pension forecast ? 
• Current forecast amount as at April 2022
• How many years available to pay going forward
• Number of full NI years prior to 2016
• Number of full NI years post 2016
• What past years are available to pay and for how much 
• Whether there is a COPE amount mentioned and if so what it is (it should show a link to it if there is something along the lines of 'like many others at some point you were contracted out of the additional state pension')

Assuming she is not eligible for Class 2 contributions (and if she is self emplyed she should already be aware of how to pay) then there is plenty of info online on how to make voluntary Class 3 contributions - you either phone up HMRC NI enquiries to tell them what years you want to pay and get an 18 digit reference and bank details to make an online faster payment,
Pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance: Make an online or telephone bank transfer - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
 or you write a letter with  the relevant details and post it to them with a cheque. 
Pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance: By cheque through the post - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Michael1b

Hi pOOpsticks

So here are my numbers I will hit state pension age later this year.

• Estimate based on my NI Record to 5th April 22 £166.17
• Forecast if I contribute until 5th April 23 £171.46
• The most I can receive is £185.15 if I fill the gap/s
• How many years available to pay going forward - 0 I retired in 2019
• the system is stating that I have 46 years of full contributions with 1 year to contribute before 5th April 23 and 3 years when I did not contribute enough.
• Number of full NI years prior to 2016 - 3
• Number of full NI years post 2016 - 43
• What past years are available to pay and for how much - 2019 to 2020 £63.40, 2020 to 2021 £795.60 & 2021 to 2022 £800.80
• I assume all I need to pay to fill the missing one year of £63.40 and I will then receive my full pension of £185.15

Is my assumption correct ? if so how do i pay it?

molerat

Michael1b said:

Hi pOOpsticks

So here are my numbers I will hit state pension age later this year.

• Estimate based on my NI Record to 5th April 22 £166.17
• Forecast if I contribute until 5th April 23 £171.46
• The most I can receive is £185.15 if I fill the gap/s
• How many years available to pay going forward - 0 I retired in 2019
• the system is stating that I have 46 years of full contributions with 1 year to contribute before 5th April 23 and 3 years when I did not contribute enough.
• Number of full NI years prior to 2016 - 3
• Number of full NI years post 2016 - 43
• What past years are available to pay and for how much - 2019 to 2020 £63.40, 2020 to 2021 £795.60 & 2021 to 2022 £800.80
• I assume all I need to pay to fill the missing one year of £63.40 and I will then receive my full pension of £185.15

Is my assumption correct ? if so how do i pay it?

You currently need 4 years to reach the maximum £185.15.  You have 1 year going forward and 3 past gaps. 3 years will add £5.29 each taking you to £182.04, the 4th adding a further £3.11 taking you to the maximum. So a total of £2484.

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

 

Michael1b

Hi again p00hsticks (sorry about the previous typo) here are the figures for my wife who will reach pension age in 2028.


Estimate based on my NI Record to 5th April 22 £158.89The most I can receive is £185.15 if gaps are filled How many years available to pay going forward - 0 retired in 2020the system is stating that she has 36 years of full contributions with 6 year to contribute before 5th April 28 and 9 years when she did not contribute enough.Number of full NI years prior to 2016 - 0Number of full NI years post 2016 - 36What past years are available to pay and for how much - 2009 -10 £15.85, 2014-15 £364.55,2015-16 £744.95, 2016-17 £729.10, 2017-18 £744.95, 2018-19 £824.20, 2019-20 £824.20, 2020-21 £795.60, 2021 - 22 £800.80We need to know how much benefit we will see in terms of her weekly pension by paying up 6 of these years?Anyone able to help?

p00hsticks

Michael1b said:

Hi pOOpsticks

So here are my numbers I will hit state pension age later this year.

• Estimate based on my NI Record to 5th April 22 £166.17
• Forecast if I contribute until 5th April 23 £171.46
• The most I can receive is £185.15 if I fill the gap/s
• How many years available to pay going forward - 0 I retired in 2019
• the system is stating that I have 46 years of full contributions with 1 year to contribute before 5th April 23 and 3 years when I did not contribute enough.
• Number of full NI years prior to 2016 - 3
• Number of full NI years post 2016 - 43
• What past years are available to pay and for how much - 2019 to 2020 £63.40, 2020 to 2021 £795.60 & 2021 to 2022 £800.80
• I assume all I need to pay to fill the missing one year of £63.40 and I will then receive my full pension of £185.15

Is my assumption correct ? if so how do i pay it?

No, your assumption isn't correct - you need more than just that one year, you need all four. 
Just to clarify; I'm pretty sure you have your pre- and post- 2016 years back to front - it should be 43 pre-2016 years and 3 post, 

Each post-2016 year will currently add £5.29 to your current forecast until you reach the maximum £185.15 or the tax year in which you hit state retirement age, which ever comes sooner. 

So in your case from your current forecast of £166.17 you need to buy all four years you have available to get you to the maximum - the first three will take you up to £182.04 and the final one will add the last £3.11 to reach the maximum. 

The good news is that all four of those years (2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 22-23) will continue to be available to buy after April, so you can potentially avoid the current stampede to try to buy them. The last two years will remain at the same price as this year, (£800.80 for 2021-22 and £824.20 for 22-23) but the 2020-21 price will rise to be the same as next year (I think around £904). This is because only the prices for the last two tax years remain the same, any others prior to that revert to be charged at the same rate as for the current year, which increases each year with inflation. The price of the 2019-20 partial payment will also rise proportionally by the 10.1% increase, but is so small the increase in pounds it shouldn't be a significant increase.  

Having said that, you really need to get these payments made and your NI record updated before you start claiming your state pension, as otherwise DWP need to go back and recalculate everything, which can take a long time and isn't easy to chase. I believe an invitation to claim your state pension goes out around 4 months before you reach state pension age, so ideally you want things done and dusted before then. 

To make a payment you can phone up HMRC NI enquiries to tell them what years you want to pay and get an 18 digit reference and bank details to make an online faster payment (leave until after April if you don't want to spend ages on hold, don;t mind paying a bit extra and are still a few months off claiming your state pension)  
Pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance: Make an online or telephone bank transfer - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
 or you write a letter with  the relevant details and post it to them with a cheque. 
Pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance: By cheque through the post - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Silvertabby

p00hsticks said:

artyboy said:

Ayr_Rage said:

Too many Martin Lewis Money Show viewers finally getting off their proverbial backsides.

Keep trying !

And if you think back to a month or so ago, the common theme for threads on this board was DB pension transfers - now it's all about NI contributions and 'why isn't 35 years enough'.

Martin has spoken  

The ' why isn't 35 years enough' query has been appearing (and been answered) on this board for years, starting almost immediately after the new State Pension was first introduced, although never with quite with the influx of new posters we are getting at the moment. .

It's disappointing that after all this time the explanation still doesn't appear to have sunk in, and I for one would have hoped that Martin could have done a bit more to explain it simply, rather than simply changing his references from '35 years;' to '35 years-ish'. 

I don't know when Martin first mentioned the deadline (I'm aware that there was a podcast of his on the subject last October ) but he must have been aware of it for many years, as many of us on these boards were, and it's perhaps a shame that he didn't start publicising it far earlier.

One would almost think he enjoys being the instigator of a last minute panic....

He certainly seemed to think it was funny when the DWP website crashed during the programme.....

molerat

Michael1b said:

Hi again p00hsticks (sorry about the previous typo) here are the figures for my wife who will reach pension age in 2028.


Estimate based on my NI Record to 5th April 22 £158.89The most I can receive is £185.15 if gaps are filled How many years available to pay going forward - 0 retired in 2020the system is stating that she has 36 years of full contributions with 6 year to contribute before 5th April 28 and 9 years when she did not contribute enough.Number of full NI years prior to 2016 - 0Number of full NI years post 2016 - 36What past years are available to pay and for how much - 2009 -10 £15.85, 2014-15 £364.55,2015-16 £744.95, 2016-17 £729.10, 2017-18 £744.95, 2018-19 £824.20, 2019-20 £824.20, 2020-21 £795.60, 2021 - 22 £800.80We need to know how much benefit we will see in terms of her weekly pension by paying up 6 of these years?Anyone able to help?

With 36 years pre 2016 more pre 2016 years will not add to the pension.  Only years 2016-17 and onwards can be purchased.

£185.15 - £158.89 = £26.26 / £5.29 = 5 years needed to reach the max. Cheapest 4 highlighted plus one of the other 2.

There should also be a contracted out statement linking to a COPE.

german_keeper

Silvertabby said:

p00hsticks said:

artyboy said:

Ayr_Rage said:

Too many Martin Lewis Money Show viewers finally getting off their proverbial backsides.

Keep trying !

And if you think back to a month or so ago, the common theme for threads on this board was DB pension transfers - now it's all about NI contributions and 'why isn't 35 years enough'.

Martin has spoken  

The ' why isn't 35 years enough' query has been appearing (and been answered) on this board for years, starting almost immediately after the new State Pension was first introduced, although never with quite with the influx of new posters we are getting at the moment. .

It's disappointing that after all this time the explanation still doesn't appear to have sunk in, and I for one would have hoped that Martin could have done a bit more to explain it simply, rather than simply changing his references from '35 years;' to '35 years-ish'. 

I don't know when Martin first mentioned the deadline (I'm aware that there was a podcast of his on the subject last October ) but he must have been aware of it for many years, as many of us on these boards were, and it's perhaps a shame that he didn't start publicising it far earlier.

One would almost think he enjoys being the instigator of a last minute panic....

He certainly seemed to think it was funny when the DWP website crashed during the programme.....

I do wonder why the issue was left until a programme just before the deadline. Mr Lewis is fully aware of what happens every year with the Tax Credits renewal deadline and how difficult it is to manage the calls on and around 31 July. And all of those people have had a letter within the previous couple of months telling them what they have to do.  

The exacerbation with this situation is that the people involved (thousands/tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands/millions?) hadn't received a recent letter explaining what they had to do and were almost certainly completely ignorant of what was expected of them. When I got a grip on the NSP rules (thanks to this forum!) a couple of years ago it wasn't difficult to predict the current situation happening. Mr Lewis is an intelligent bloke, I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have done the same.

p00hsticks

Michael1b said:

Hi again p00hsticks (sorry about the previous typo) here are the figures for my wife who will reach pension age in 2028.


Estimate based on my NI Record to 5th April 22 £158.89The most I can receive is £185.15 if gaps are filled How many years available to pay going forward - 0 retired in 2020the system is stating that she has 36 years of full contributions with 6 year to contribute before 5th April 28 and 9 years when she did not contribute enough.Number of full NI years prior to 2016 - 0Number of full NI years post 2016 - 36What past years are available to pay and for how much - 2009 -10 £15.85, 2014-15 £364.55,2015-16 £744.95, 2016-17 £729.10, 2017-18 £744.95, 2018-19 £824.20, 2019-20 £824.20, 2020-21 £795.60, 2021 - 22 £800.80We need to know how much benefit we will see in terms of her weekly pension by paying up 6 of these years?Anyone able to help?

Just to make clear for others, when we ask how many years will be available to buy going forward, we mean how many years to go before reaching the tax year in which you reach state pension age. So in this case the forecast suggest you actually have six years (including the current one) available to buy until that point, in April 2028 ? 

As molerat has already pointed out, with 36 pre-2016 years already full, buying pre-2016 years will be a waste of money as they will have no impact on your forecast.  the current forecast of £158.89 means you have  (£185.15 - £158.89 = ) £26.26 to reach the maximum. Dividing that by the £5.29 that each year is worth gives you 5 years needed to make the maximum. 

You therefore have a couple of choices, if you have the spare funds, you can buy five of the post-2016 gap years now and get it over and done with. Alternatively, assuming I am correct in saying you don't actually reach state pension age until tax year 2028-29, you could spread the cost and do as I'm doing by setting up a direct debit in April to pay in monthly instalments for the years 2023-4 through to 2027-8 as they occur....

pinnks

Or, like me, one could budget to pay the X years but to pay each "at the last minute" - I am just about to shed out for 2020/21 before the price increases, so that I (a) keep the money in my bank for longer and (b) have (hopefully) better insights into my longevity before parting company with my money.  Point (b) is driven by the fact that my dad lived only a couple of months past SPA... 

A greater degree of discipline is of course required to take this approach...