41 years NI, & still being asked for more??!!

onesixfive

pinnks said:

Each year you buy adds £5.29 to your pension, so what molerat is saying is, if you buy 2 years you add £10.58 to take you to 23p per week less than the max.  To get that extra 23p, or £12 per year, you would have to buy a full year at £800+ and that would never pay for itself.

The cheapest 2 years are 2018/19 and 2020/21 but unless you can pay for that before 5 April it will go up by 10.1%. 2018/19 goes up to £157.05 and that year is certainly worth paying and it only makes £15 difference if you pay it after 5 April, so wasting time and money on the phone is  probably not worth it.

The next cheapest year is 2020/21 but unless you waste that time and money on the phone to pay it before 5 April it will increase by £80.35.  However, you do not need to pay that year at all and could just opt to pay 2021/22 at £800.80 as it does not increase in April 2023.

So, by waiting as molerat suggests, you would pay about £20 more than if you dash to pay before 5 April.  Personally, I would wait until the middle of the year when this has all settled down again and then call HMRC for your reference number to pay.

Brill
I didnt know it was so simple as a price-per-year
I'll buy 2 x years - and may wait !
Pity you cant pay these shortfalls online

xylophone

You may find this reply to another poster of interest..

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79394659/#Comment_79394659
See also

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79887337/#Comment_79887337

pinnks

You can pay online but you need the magic 18-digit number from HMRC.  Alternatively, send them a cheque Voluntary NI Contributions - 18 digit reference - Page 3 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

bostonerimus

Linton said:

This has been covered hundreds of times in this forum.

The widely publicised 35 years for a full new state pension is only valid for people who have spent all their lives working under the new rules.  You like everybody else at the moment will have spent most of your life working under the old rules and so are covered by transition arrangements.

The reason you dont get a full pension now is becauuse you spent some time contracted-out of SERPs because you were in a DB (eg final salary) pension scheme.  By being contracted out you paid less NI and the scheme took on responsibility  for paying you at least what you would have received if you were contracted in - that is where the COPE figure comes in.

The statement says you need to pay 3 years more to get a full state pension.  In general you will be able to pay back-contributions for the previous 6 years. so you dont actually need to buy the extra years until close to your State Pension Age. However  paying sooner would be cheaper, especially for the 2018/19 tax year.

The chances of there being something wrong is very low.  Your figures are similar to many others.

One option to check on - you say you cared for your mother, perhaps https://www.gov.uk/carers-credit could be relevent though I dont know how long after the event you can claim.

Can you get full new SP under a transitional arrangement with 35 years of NI if you were never contracted out? My record started in the 1970s with 3 years of free sixth form college contributions and then a mix of Class 2 and Class 3 voluntary NI. With 35 years in total I qualified for the full new flat rate pension amount.

molerat

bostonerimus said:

Linton said:

This has been covered hundreds of times in this forum.

The widely publicised 35 years for a full new state pension is only valid for people who have spent all their lives working under the new rules.  You like everybody else at the moment will have spent most of your life working under the old rules and so are covered by transition arrangements.

The reason you dont get a full pension now is becauuse you spent some time contracted-out of SERPs because you were in a DB (eg final salary) pension scheme.  By being contracted out you paid less NI and the scheme took on responsibility  for paying you at least what you would have received if you were contracted in - that is where the COPE figure comes in.

The statement says you need to pay 3 years more to get a full state pension.  In general you will be able to pay back-contributions for the previous 6 years. so you dont actually need to buy the extra years until close to your State Pension Age. However  paying sooner would be cheaper, especially for the 2018/19 tax year.

The chances of there being something wrong is very low.  Your figures are similar to many others.

One option to check on - you say you cared for your mother, perhaps https://www.gov.uk/carers-credit could be relevent though I dont know how long after the event you can claim.

Can you get full new SP under a transitional arrangement with 35 years of NI if you were never contracted out? My record started in the 1970s with 3 years of free sixth form college contributions and then a mix of Class 2 and Class 3 voluntary NI. With 35 years in total I qualified for the full new flat rate pension amount.

Yes.  In 2016 the calculation was done using the old or new scheme figures.  At that time a new scheme year gave £4.45, 1/35th of £155.65, and an old £3.98, 1/30th of £119.30.  With little or no S2P, especially relevant for class 2, child benefit credits, voluntary class 3 etc, the basic years with no S2P added up to more under the new scheme and with no contracted out service there would be no COPE deducted.  That is why it has been said that stay at home mums / housewives / self employed are the really big winners of the 2016 new pension

onesixfive

molerat said:

bostonerimus said:

Can you get full new SP under a transitional arrangement with 35 years of NI if you were never contracted out? My record started in the 1970s with 3 years of free sixth form college contributions and then a mix of Class 2 and Class 3 voluntary NI. With 35 years in total I qualified for the full new flat rate pension amount.

Yes.  In 2016 the calculation was done using the old or new scheme figures.  At that time a new scheme year gave £4.45, 1/35th of £155.65, and an old £3.98, 1/30th of £119.30.  With little or no S2P, especially relevant for class 2, child benefit credits, voluntary class 3 etc, the basic years with no S2P added up to more under the new scheme and with no contracted out service there would be no COPE deducted.  That is why it has been said that stay at home mums / housewives / self employed are the really big winners of the 2016 new pension

SO all-in-all it's the contracted-out that's really trashed my state pension for me 
I've checked my paperwork & my service was 7 years & 242 days in the contracted out job..
Knock this off my 41 fully paid years, & this would tally with me paying about a year and a bit to make me back up to 35 ??

Thanks everybody
Much appreciated 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

onesixfive said:

molerat said:

bostonerimus said:

Can you get full new SP under a transitional arrangement with 35 years of NI if you were never contracted out? My record started in the 1970s with 3 years of free sixth form college contributions and then a mix of Class 2 and Class 3 voluntary NI. With 35 years in total I qualified for the full new flat rate pension amount.

Yes.  In 2016 the calculation was done using the old or new scheme figures.  At that time a new scheme year gave £4.45, 1/35th of £155.65, and an old £3.98, 1/30th of £119.30.  With little or no S2P, especially relevant for class 2, child benefit credits, voluntary class 3 etc, the basic years with no S2P added up to more under the new scheme and with no contracted out service there would be no COPE deducted.  That is why it has been said that stay at home mums / housewives / self employed are the really big winners of the 2016 new pension

SO all-in-all it's the contracted-out that's really trashed my state pension for me 
I've checked my paperwork & my service was 7 years & 242 days in the contracted out job..
Knock this off my 41 fully paid years, & this would tally with me paying about a year and a bit to make me back up to 35 ??

Thanks everybody
Much appreciated 

Trashed??  Funny way of looking a gift horse in the mouth!

35 years really is irrelevant to you as you are under transitional rules.

You paid lower NI for a period of time expecting the basic State Pension (~£142/week).  But now have the opportunity to get £185.15/week by paying a, relatively small amount of voluntary NI.

Surely you're a winner all day long 🤔

onesixfive

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

onesixfive said:

molerat said:

SO all-in-all it's the contracted-out that's really trashed my state pension for me 
I've checked my paperwork & my service was 7 years & 242 days in the contracted out job..
Knock this off my 41 fully paid years, & this would tally with me paying about a year and a bit to make me back up to 35 ??

Thanks everybody
Much appreciated 

Trashed??  Funny way of looking a gift horse in the mouth!

35 years really is irrelevant to you as you are under transitional rules.

You paid lower NI for a period of time expecting the basic State Pension (~£142/week).  But now have the opportunity to get £185.15/week by paying a, relatively small amount of voluntary NI.

Surely you're a winner all day long 🤔

Actually I (like millions of others), expected my pension at the age of 60 - now I wont get it until I'm 67 - so, no, I dont count myself a winner. At almost 62, I would have had almost 2 x years-worth by now under the rules I was opted into, instead I'm still having to pay in to get my full entitlement out.

retiringtoosoon

onesixfive said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

onesixfive said:

molerat said:

SO all-in-all it's the contracted-out that's really trashed my state pension for me 
I've checked my paperwork & my service was 7 years & 242 days in the contracted out job..
Knock this off my 41 fully paid years, & this would tally with me paying about a year and a bit to make me back up to 35 ??

Thanks everybody
Much appreciated 

Trashed??  Funny way of looking a gift horse in the mouth!

35 years really is irrelevant to you as you are under transitional rules.

You paid lower NI for a period of time expecting the basic State Pension (~£142/week).  But now have the opportunity to get £185.15/week by paying a, relatively small amount of voluntary NI.

Surely you're a winner all day long 🤔

Actually I (like millions of others), expected my pension at the age of 60 - now I wont get it until I'm 67 - so, no, I dont count myself a winner. At almost 62, I would have had almost 2 x years-worth by now under the rules I was opted into, instead I'm still having to pay in to get my full entitlement out.

Not a big fan of equality, huh?

MallyGirl

onesixfive said:

Actually I (like millions of others), expected my pension at the age of 60 - now I wont get it until I'm 67 - so, no, I dont count myself a winner. At almost 62, I would have had almost 2 x years-worth by now under the rules I was opted into, instead I'm still having to pay in to get my full entitlement out.

You do not have to contribute. Under the old rules your 'full entitlement' would have been quite a bit lower. You have the option to improve it at a cost which is recovered in around 4 years with the rest of your life being a win.