Voluntary Contributions For The 13/14 Year

Tricia10

I’m confused. I'm 60 and my State Pension Forecast shows that I would need to contribute another 5 years before 5 April 2029 to obtain a full pension. My online National Insurance Record (NIR) shows that I have 33 full years from April 1978 (the first 3 years are starting credits). I do not have a full year for 13/14 but my NIR states that I can make up the shortfall by paying a voluntary contribution of £396.25 for that year. I’ve contacted the Future Pensions Centre twice and have also spoken to HMRC, they’ve stated that paying £396.25 for the 13/14 tax year won’t increase my pension as I need to obtain full years from 6/4/2016 onwards. They’ve calculated that I would need to pay £4069.00 (the 5 tax years from April 2017) to obtain a full pension. Can anyone tell me why the 13/14 year would not count as a qualifying year for the New State Pension?

molerat

There is a limit to how many pre 2016 years are useable, if in a contracted out scheme that would likely be 30 so as you already have 33 only post 2016 years will help.

If you want to post up some details someone will help with explanations of your options.

Current £.pp amount accrued up to April 2022
Number of pre 2016 years full
Number of post 2016 years full
Financial year you reach state retirement
Any COPE amount shown
Years which show not full and prices

p00hsticks

Tricia10 said:

Can anyone tell me why the 13/14 year would not count as a qualifying year for the New State Pension?

Because when the new State Pension was introduced in 2016, everyone's 'starting amount' was calculated as being the higher of the two values under the old and new rules. 

The old rules calculation uses a maximum of 30 NI years, the new rules a maximum of 35.   
Your calculations obviously showed that the higher of the two was that under the old rules, and so buying more NI years prior to 2016 wouldn't alter that calculation as you already had over the 30 required. 

NI years earned (or bought or creditted) since 2016 will each add £5.29 (1/35th of the new state pension maximum) to that starting amount until the maximum £185.15 or state pension age is reached, whichever is sooner. 

(see posts by xylophone if you want the details of the two calculations used)

Tricia10

Thank you both for your help. I was contracted out (COPE estimate is £19.12 a week) and my pension estimate based on my National Insurance record up to 5 April 2022 is £158.75. I didn't know there is a limit to how many pre 2016 years are useable. The person I spoke to at Future Pensions did mention that I already had 30 years up to April 2016, however, she didn't explain the significance of this. Thank you again.