National Insurance Contributions

DeeDoubleYoo

Hope somebody can help me as NI Helpline is clearly a no hoper at the min, although they did tempt me for an hour and a half before hanging up my waiting call.
My wife retires this October. Logging on to Government Gateway and checking her NI contributions it says she has 36 years Hoorrrahhh.....however
Underneath that it states 1 year to contribute before 5 April 2023??????????? Counting down the 'Full Years' underneath this statement there are 34. But at the bottom is typed 'Our records show you have 2 full years up to 5 April 1975' = 36......hoorah again, all good (apart from 1 year to contribute statement?????????)
Question 1 Does my wife have 35 years for her full pension....it sounds like she has 36 years.....but?

I thought I might get some clarity in the Your State Pension Summary....not a hope...
State Pension is forecast at £185.15 Hoooorahhhhh
However,
Estimate based on your national insurance record up to 5 April 2022......£181.34?????????????? (she hasn't worked for the last 3 - 4 years)
It then states that if my wife contributes another year before the 5th April 2023...she can have £185.15......despite her supposedly having 36 years NI contributions!!!
Please could somebody tell me if the years NI contribution for a full pension is 35 years? Is so, why does my wife need 37? Do NI full years up to 1975 not count?
Any help/re-assurance gratefully received....and apologies....if HMRC would pick up the phone I wouldn't be posting this....
David

p00hsticks

Ignore the number of years - she's under transitional rules and the number of years needed to reach the maximum amount varies for each individual depending on their individual records. It's only those born this century and falling completely under the new system that the 35 years figure is relevant to. 

Among all those words and question marks, I can't see you saying exactly what years are showing as not full in her NI records, but as you say she hasn't worked for the last 3-4 years I'm guessing that they are the most recent ones, including this year. In which case she doesn't have a hard April deadline to beat.

If she wants to, she can make a voluntary contribution to buy which ever is the cheapest of those years to get her pension to the max. She doesn;t need to do it before April, but should do it ASAP afterwards, before she gets the invite to claim her pension (which she should receive about four months before, so June-July) otherwise it will all have to be recalculated.

She'll first need to call the Future Pension Centre to confirm that that's what she needs to do and then call the HMRC NI enquiries team to get a reference to enable her to make the payment online. 
Contact the Future Pension Centre - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
National Insurance: general enquiries - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
And if you are going to be calling on her behalf, unless they have you recorded as her appointee, you'll need to have her with you to give her permission for them to deal with you and answer any security questions. 

molerat

35 years is of no relevance to those with a pre 2016 history

The pension forecast is very clear and tells you exactly what you need to do to reach that forecast amount

The top line of the NI record shows exactly how many years she has

If she has £181.34 up to April 2022 she needs to contribute one more year to get to the full £185.15, an extra £3.80.

Likely further down there is a statement about contracted out pensions with a click link to COPE.

Are there any part filled cheap years showing on her NI record ?

DeeDoubleYoo

Yes. She has one year with only £98 to pay. I guess we just pay that one. Although it does seem strange that she has 34 full years showing and then a message at the bottom saying she has a further 2 full years prior to 1975 which would equate to 36 full years...

molerat

DeeDoubleYoo said:

Yes. She has one year with only £98 to pay. I guess we just pay that one. Although it does seem strange that she has 34 full years showing and then a message at the bottom saying she has a further 2 full years prior to 1975 which would equate to 36 full years...

But which year is that, not all years will add to the pension. It must be 2016-17 or later to guarantee value.

p00hsticks

molerat said:

DeeDoubleYoo said:

Yes. She has one year with only £98 to pay. I guess we just pay that one. Although it does seem strange that she has 34 full years showing and then a message at the bottom saying she has a further 2 full years prior to 1975 which would equate to 36 full years...

But which year is that, not all years will add to the pension. It must be 2016-17 or later to guarantee value.

And the 2016-17 year will go off sale in April, so if that is the  £98 one she will need to brave the phonelines now. 

DeeDoubleYoo

Thankfully the £98 year is 2018/19. I would have sorted all this before, but for the fact the information, as far as I knew, has been you needed 35 years, when I logged in she had 36, so as far as I was concerned...no problem. It just says:
You have:
36 years of full contribution
1 year to contribute before 5 April 2023
13 years when you did not contribute enough.
Still seems illogical to me that if the cutoff is 35 years that 36 years isn't enough.....
Thanks so much for all the info.

molerat

It can't be £98 for 18-19, it has to be a multiple of £15.85.  If paid after April 5th it will increase by 10.1% so not a big hit to not be caught up in the scrabble to contact HMRC.

Still seems illogical to me that if the cutoff is 35 years that 36 years isn't enough...

But as has been explained 35 years is not the cut off and won't be for a long time yet.

DeeDoubleYoo

Yes, sorry not exactly £98....can't remember exact figure without logging the wife's laptop on, but it's in the 90s so I'm guessing with your figures £95.10. Will brave the phone lines tomorrow....I don't mind the wait so much as the waiting for an hour and a half and then having it just cancel for no reason....
Thanks again.

molerat

DeeDoubleYoo said:

Yes, sorry not exactly £98....can't remember exact figure without logging the wife's laptop on, but it's in the 90s so I'm guessing with your figures £95.10. Will brave the phone lines tomorrow....I don't mind the wait so much as the waiting for an hour and a half and then having it just cancel for no reason....
Thanks again.

It will be £104.70 from April 6th.

DeeDoubleYoo

Not the end of the world.....but I guess the wait will be the same whatever....the message you get before the endless wait says they're extending the deadline as nobody can get through...but I doubt that extends to amounts....I'm sure that will still go up...thanks for all the info.