How do I actually pay Voluntary National Insurance contributions for a shortfall.

xylophone

Do all NHS staff know they were contracted out of part of their state pension? We paid the full NI amount. No one I have spoken to knew. I had 41 years full contributions and had to buy 5 more years. That and an unexpected six year wait for my pension. It has been upsetting. 

Members of NHSPS were "contracted out" of Additional State Pension. that is to say SERPS (1978 - 2002) /S2P (2002- 1916).

They would have known that they were "contracted out" if they had  bothered to read the Scheme Guide.

 Up to 5/4/16, you (and your employer) paid NI at the "contracted out" rate.

This qualified you to receive Basic State Pension (although with respect to S2P, even if contracted out, it was possible for  moderate earners to accrue some S2P see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Second_Pension)

Your employer had to guarantee to pay you a pension as least as great as you would have earned had you been contracted in.

The pension was usually rather higher than this minimum.

Regarding calculation of "starting amount" see

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79897254#Comment_79897254

Regarding the unexpected six year wait for your state pension,

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7405/

The Pensions Act 1995 provided for the State Pension age (SPA) for women to increase from 60 to 65 over the period April 2010 to 2020. The Coalition Government legislated in the Pensions Act 2011 to accelerate the latter part of this timetable, starting in April 2016 when women’s SPA was 63 so that it reached 65 in November 2018, at which point it started to rise to 66 by October 2020. The Government’s initial intention was that the equalised SPA would then rise to 66 by April 2020 (Cm 7956, Nov 2010, Foreword). However, because of concerns expressed at the short notice of significant increases for some women (as much as two years compared to the timetable in existing legislation) it made a concession when the legislation was in its final stages. This limited the maximum increase under the Act at 18 months, at a cost to the Exchequer of £1.1 bn – see Library Briefing Paper, SN 06082 Pensions Bill 2011 – final stages (Nov 2011).

unsync

molerat said:

unsync said:

I've been trying to make a payment today,  i've been on hold now with the funky music for about 20 minutes. Just waiting for 6 pm to roll around so I get cut off.

How many people must be trying and failing to do this? Its almost like they don't want the money.

I would suspect the majority of people have had since 2016 to sort this out but haven't bothered and left it until the last moment.  Could you really expect DWP & HMRC to increase their staffing level probably ten fold, and train them, for just a month or two's work because people could not be bothered to sort their pension out in time.

Thanks for that super helpful response. My own circumstances have meant that I am only now able to make the additional payment.

billy2shots

p00hsticks said:

billy2shots said:

xylophone said:

That said, getting in touch with HMRC at the moment is very difficult. Trying at 8am might work.

Otherwise, if you are quite sure of the years and amounts, see

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

Opening times

9.30am - 3.30pm (got to love those public sector roles). 

I'm nto sure where you got those opening times from ?
The gov.uk site clearly says phonelines open 8am - 6pm Mon-Fri
National Insurance: general enquiries - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Whoops, Google top answer is for Northern Island 9.30-3.30.

molerat

unsync said:

molerat said:

unsync said:

I've been trying to make a payment today,  i've been on hold now with the funky music for about 20 minutes. Just waiting for 6 pm to roll around so I get cut off.

How many people must be trying and failing to do this? Its almost like they don't want the money.

I would suspect the majority of people have had since 2016 to sort this out but haven't bothered and left it until the last moment.  Could you really expect DWP & HMRC to increase their staffing level probably ten fold, and train them, for just a month or two's work because people could not be bothered to sort their pension out in time.

Thanks for that super helpful response. My own circumstances have meant that I am only now able to make the additional payment.

I know it is not helpful but unfortunately is the truth of the current situation.  There are people posting on here who reached state retirement 2 or 3 years ago and are only now trying to top up their pension along with a few million panicking that they have a one year gap from 2014 with their state retirement in 2043 and querying if they need to pay it.

You could always use the old fashioned letter, with proof of postage, and a cheque.

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