Trying to contact the Future Pension Centre is very painfull !

mikewill34

My Wife has :-

Estimate based on her NI Record to 5th April 22 £151.34

Forecast if she contributes until 5th April 23 £177.79

The most she can receive is £185.15 if she fill the gaps

31 years of full contributions

5 years to contribute before 5 April 2027 - In reality 0 as she does not work

15 years when you did not contribute enough

Number of full NI years prior to 2016 = 31

Number of full NI years post 2016 = 0

What past years are available to pay and for how much

2021 to 2022 - £800.80

2020 to 2021 - £795.60

2019 to 2020 - £824.20

2018 to 2019 - £665.70

2017 to 2018 - £602.30

2016 to 2017 - £285.30

2015 to 2016 - £523.05

2014 to 2015 - £206.05

2013 to 2014 - £317.00

2012 to 2013 - £538.90

2011 to 2012 - £744.95

2010 to 2011 - £174.35

My understanding is that she can make up the missing four years by paying the following

2016 to 2017 - £285.30

2014 to 2015 - £206.05

2013 to 2014 - £317.00

2010 to 2011 - £174.35

Total £982.70 to increase her estimate of £151.34 per week to £185.15 (i.e. £1,758.12 per year)

molerat

Does her forecast show contracted out and a COPE amount ? Very important to whether the pre 2016 years will count

Paisleyporridge

There is now a recorded message on 0800 731 0175 that states:" Whilst we expect you to make every effort to make payment of voluntary national contributions by the 5th April 2023 we understand this may not always be possible due to circumstances beyond your control. Don't worry if you cannot get through. HMRC will consider accepting voluntary NICs made after the 6th April as paid on time due to unprecedented demand on DWP and HMRC telephony lines."

Please do not take this being absolutely correct- I am really here flagging it for Martin and his team to clarify. To my mind while it is reassuring, there are aspects that are disconcerting:
+ Will they try to establish we have made every effort, and what if we don't meet their expectation.
+ The wording "consider accepting" is not the same as "will accept"

For my part, I have recorded the above call, and will make a daily attempt to get through. I don't want to overload the system more than necessary but trust this will meet "every effort" expectations.

eskbanker

mikewill34 said:

My Wife has :-

Estimate based on her NI Record to 5th April 22 £151.34

Forecast if she contributes until 5th April 23 £177.79

I don't follow this - the implication is that this one year of NI contributions would increase her forecast by £26.45 per week?

molerat

eskbanker said:

mikewill34 said:

My Wife has :-

Estimate based on her NI Record to 5th April 22 £151.34

Forecast if she contributes until 5th April 23 £177.79

I don't follow this - the implication is that this one year of NI contributions would increase her forecast by £26.45 per week?

It works using 2027, which is stated further down, so a typo

mikewill34

molerat said:

eskbanker said:

mikewill34 said:

My Wife has :-

Estimate based on her NI Record to 5th April 22 £151.34

Forecast if she contributes until 5th April 23 £177.79

I don't follow this - the implication is that this one year of NI contributions would increase her forecast by £26.45 per week?

It works using 2027 so a typo

Oops - I thought I have checked for typos

Michael1b

molerat said:

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.

Thanks Molerat really appreciate the information which now allows us to make informed decisions. My knowledge gap still exists around the COPE and its relevance?

mikewill34

molerat said:

Does her forecast show contracted out and a COPE amount ? Very important to whether the pre 2016 years will count

Your COPE estimate is £10.63 a week

Michael1b

p00hsticks said:

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....

p00hsticks said:

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....

p00hsticks said:

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....

p00hsticks said:

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....

Thanks p00hsticks really appreciate the information that now allows us to make an informed decision moving forward - shame they cannot added something like this that's easy to find on the webpage that gives you the info you and molerat have provided as I now understand how it works. 

mikewill34

Just had a cal back from FPS, spoke to a very nice gentelman called Stuart.

He said that they were following up on telephone numbers recorded by their system who have called multiple times (My wife tried 71 times yesterday)

In a nut shell he said that my wife needed 7 years
These could be filled as follows
5 years of specified adult childcare credit (she looks after our grand children)
2 cheapest years to be paid now.

Result