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

xylophone

You seem to be labouring under a misapprehension that you have somehow been cheated of your entitlement.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181237/single-tier-pension-fact-sheet.pdf

I have contributions in the current scheme. How will my single-tier pension be calculated?

• Under the Government’s proposals, National Insurance contributions and credits awarded before the new single-tier system starts will be recognised.

• When single tier starts we will look at your National Insurance record and work out its value under the single-tier rules. At the same time we will work out what you may have got under the present state pension rules. For both valuations we will make a deduction to take into account any periods when you were contracted out of the additional State Pension. Also the minimum qualifying year requirement will apply.

• The higher of these two amounts will then become your single-tier foundation amount. You could be in three positions: your foundation amount could be equal to, more than or less than the full single-tier pension. Please read on for more details.

See also

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-state-pension-if-youve-been-contracted-out-of-additional-state-pension/the-new-state-pension-transition-and-contracting-out-fact-sheet

bostonerimus

molerat said:

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

Yes, as an expat paying voluntary Class 2 NI I was limited to just the basic state pension under the old scheme and got an immediate 30% increase in benefit level with the new flat rate pension. Of course the carers and stay at home dads and house husbands will get the same benefits as the stay at home moms and wives under the new scheme and it's good that they are included and can build up credit independently. However, I think myself and the self-employed paying Class 2 are not contributing enough into the system. Class 2 is bizarrely inexpensive. There have been plans to reform/abolish Class 2, but nothing has happened yet.

GrubbyGirl_2

All my working life I worked for the NHS so was contracted out for the whole time.  To get the max pension £185.15 I need 50 years NI but as a result of being contracted out I get a gold standard public service pension.  You're in the same position as you've worked mainly in the civil service and have benefitted from the lower NI payments

p00hsticks

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.

Under the old system. being contracted out  would have given you a 'full entitlement' to the basic state pension - currently £141.85 a week. You would have got more (known as SERPS or S2P) if you were contracted in and paying a higher rate of NI. 

Until 2010, as a female, you needed 39 years to get that full entitlement, with any years over that ignored.  In 2010 that was reduced to 30

The basic State Pension: Who gets the basic State Pension - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

You now have an opportunity, if you wish, to boost the amount of state pension that you would have been expecting for most of your life  by more than £10 a week, at an extremely generous rate. You are one of the winners from the change in system.

Prism

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. I have got 31 full years, 4 not full years while at university, and need another 3 years to get to the full new state pension. I was also contracted out for a couple of years along the way.

LHW99

If the OP really wants the additional 23p (or more) I presume deferring the SP for 9 weeks or so would also get it?

warrenb

The issue is not the number of years you contribute, but also how much you contribute in those years. I have 37 years of contributions, I was contracted out for 15 years, but as my NI payments were still over the threshold even the contracted out years count toward my NI record.