State Pensions NI Voluntary Contributions

molerat

PullingMyHairOut1 said:

Thanks everyone again. The maths works out the same for the sum of additional contributions whether the starting point is 2016/17 or 2017/18 anyway. £5.29 x 6 = £31.74. The year 22/23 not making a 7th. Still worth doing just leaves me with a slight shortfall of the maximum £185.15 and I was curious why that target couldn't be reached. I will send them a cheque and 2.96 years before payback (not including increases). I tried the 0300 - 200 - 3500 just after 8.00am this morning went through 3 minutes or so of all my details and got cut off!
Hope the post might be useful to others.

I am confused now.  You can only fill years that are not full.  According to your forecast you only have a possible 6 available including 2022-23.  All years 2016-17 and onwards each will add the same amount so it is not a case of where the starting point is. Which year between 2016-17 and 2022-23 is full ?

PullingMyHairOut1

None of them are full as I took early retirement in 2012 but have more than 35 years. The 22/23 year doesn't show on the forecast I got as it said 'not available yet'. However, I discovered it was £824.20 the same as 2016/17. The total is the same £4,893.20. 

molerat

What you are saying makes no sense.  There are 7 years between 2016-17 and 2022-23 and if none are full then 7 years should be available to purchase and you should be able to reach the max £185.15.  Do any of those years show as "checking"  without an amount to pay ?

edit:  I think I know where the confusion is coming from.  That £148.68, is that the top line of the forecast (which is the amount you can get including buying 2022-23) or the amount already held at April 2022 (which is the important one for figuring out what you need to do) ? 

You likely need to spend £5717.40 to get the 7 necessary years to reach  your maximum.

PullingMyHairOut1

Thanks again for your time. From what I have read you can only claim for a max of 6 years from 2016? None appear as checking. A few gaps in the 1970's though. The 22/23 figure states on the NI record that is not available yet and the most I could increase this to on the forecast is £180.42 if I contribute to 5th April 2023. A difference of £4.73 to the max instead of £5.29 used in the calculation. PS. I have no hair left!

molerat

The most important figure on your forecast is the amount at April 2022,  what is that amount ?  There are likely 3 different amounts which all mean different things.  My guesses now are top line £148.68, April 2022 £143.39, you can improve to £180.42.

xylophone

There is confusion here.

Are you saying that you  neither paid nor were credited with NI between your retirement in 2012 and now?

If so, and you are shown as having 37 qualifying years, then those years relate to the period up to 2012.

At 6/4/2016, two calculations were done for you to establish your starting amount for NSP.

That starting amount was the higher of

Old Rules entitlement

NI years/30 (max) x £119.30 (Full Basic 16/17) + (Additional State Pension -  (if applicable) Deduction for Contracting Out).

New Rules entitlement

{NI years/35 (max) x £155.65 (Full NSP 16/17)} - (if applicable) Contracted Out Pension Equivalent. 

It is clear that you had a COPE (used once only in the above calculation) and that your starting amount was lower than a  full new state pension.

It was probably around £120 so you needed eight more qualifying years to bring you up to full NSP.


You had at least 35  qualifying years at 5/4/16 and therefore you could only improve your starting amount

 (up to but not exceeding full NSP)


by adding qualifying years (contributions or credits) from 6/4/16 up to the tax year before the one in which you reached State Pension Age.

You did not have enough available years before reaching NSP to bring you to the full amount.

p00hsticks

PullingMyHairOut1 said:

Thanks again for your time. From what I have read you can only claim for a max of 6 years from 2016? 

Where are you reading this ?

As previously stated, at the introduction of the new State Pension there was a temporary extension to the '6' year rule' enacted allowing people to make voluntary contributions to fill in any gaps as far back as 2006-7. That extension is still in place, but was due to finish in April - the deadline has now been pushed back to July due to the demand.

 You can purchase as many years from 2006-7 onwards as you have gaps available, although not all will necessarily boost you state pension forecast.

There are currently 7 post-2016 years available to buy if not already filled - the earliest being 2016-17, which will not be available after July, up to the current 2022-23 year.

Audaxer

molerat said:

The most important figure on your forecast is the amount at April 2022,  what is that amount ?  There are likely 3 different amounts which all mean different things.  My guesses now are top line £148.68, April 2022 £143.39, you can improve to £180.42.

Reading through this thread again, I agree the above figures must be the correct in that the 'Estimate based on your NI record to 5 April 2022' must be £143.39, as he can make 7 years payments adding £37.03, meaning the most he can get is £180.42.