Fill in National Insurance gaps after reaching state pension age and claiming pension

sadia2

Is it possible to fill in national insurance gaps if over the state pension age and claiming state pension? I have someone who reached state pension age February 2022 but has not yet claimed as only had 31 years and thought that if they started to claim they would lose the right to fill in national insurance gaps. Please help. 

molerat

Yes you can still make up the pension after claiming providing of course there are suitable gaps to fill.

Did they get a forecast before reaching SP age ?

If not they need to speak to the pension service and get a quote but during the current panic things are moving very slowly and taking maybe several months to sort out.

Do they have access to their on line tax account ?

The time to have done this was prior to SPA as things would have been clearer as to what needed doing.

Linton

Yes you can fill NI gaps in pre-retirement years after you reach state pension age.  It does not make any difference whether you have claimed SP or not.  .  However the 6 year limit (next tax year) still applies so the opportunity will disappear year by year.

I believe that any resultant gain in SP only applies from the point you claim - it is not back dated.

p00hsticks

Linton said:

Yes you can fill NI gaps in pre-retirement years after you reach state pension age.  It does not make any difference whether you have claimed SP or not.  .  However the 6 year limit (next tax year) still applies so the opportunity will disappear year by year.

I believe that any resultant gain in SP only applies from the point you claim - it is not back dated.

Yes - and my understanding is that it may also take time for DWP to recalculate the entitlement after additional payments have been made, although this might not be so much of an issue if the pension has been deferred and is not yet being claimed. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

sadia2 said:

Is it possible to fill in national insurance gaps if over the state pension age and claiming state pension? I have someone who reached state pension age February 2022 but has not yet claimed as only had 31 years and thought that if they started to claim they would lose the right to fill in national insurance gaps. Please help. 

Having 31 years could mean that they are already entitled to £185.15/week.

Adding additional years isn't guaranteed to add to whatever they have already accrued.

They need to get details of their entitlement and which years can be filled to understand if they can increase it and if it's worthwhile doing.

sadia2

Thank you everyone for your replies, it seems there is a consensus that they can still fill in NI gaps even whilst claiming state pension.

Asking for my father. He turned 66 in February 2022. logged onto online tax account late 2022 and was unable to see a forecast. I could see that he only had 31 years of NI contributions and 35 were needed for full state pension. I (mistakenly) thought that if he put a claim in then he wouldn't have the opportunity to fill in the gaps and increasee his pension amount.

Requested a forecast from the pension office on 0800 731 7898. The have sent a letter to say his pension is £159.07 plus £10.07 as extra payment for having deferred. Doing the calculations, he has missed out on 59 weeks x £159.07 = £9385.13, which will now be paid to him at £10.07 a week which will take almost 18 years to recoup! This is a shame as he did need that money now.

Does anyone know if the state pension can be backdated?

I think I will advise him to take the following action (let me know if you agree/disagree): 

1. claim the state pension asap 
2. find out if there is any benefit to him filling in NI gaps
3. if beneficial, make the payment to fill in NI gaps and ask DWP to recalculate

for step 2, does anyone know which number to ring, will it be Future Pensions, or the pension office on 0800 731 7898 because he is over state pension age?

molerat

He can possibly backdate the pension claim 12 months and receive that 12 months as a taxable lump sum and an ongoing pension based on that smaller number of weeks deferment.  He needs 5 more years to reach the maximum - does he have that amount of gaps ? Which years are unfilled ? How are his 31 years split pre and post 2016 ?  Any additional years purchased will increase the pension from the date of receipt of the payment, it will not be calculated from the state pension date.  He needs to contact the pension service, FPC only deal with pre retirement age queries.

xylophone

Asking for my father. He turned 66 in February 2022. logged onto online tax account late 2022 and was unable to see a forecast. 

It needed to be requested before he reached SPA.

Have you checked whether or not he would be eligible for pension credit?

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf

sadia2

Thank you, 19 years not full, here is a list:

2020 to 2021

2019 to 2020

2018 to 2019

2017 to 2018

2014 to 2015

2013 to 2014

2007 to 2008

2002 to 2003

2001 to 2002

1997 to 1998

1996 to 1997

1994 to 1995

1993 to 1994

1990 to 1991

1989 to 1990

1988 to 1989

1987 to 1988

1984 to 1985

1978 to 1979

molerat

So he has 1 post 2016 year full ?

He also has a contracted out (work) pension ?  He must have as the figures do not work out without a COPE amount.

If so then he can only fill post 2016 years to add to his pension, pre 2016 years will not add value which is 4, meaning he can only get to £180.23.

sadia2

Yes 1 full year post 2016: 16/17. Not sure about work pension, been self employed most of working life, only time employed in the 70s. 

I didn't think he would be eligible for pension credit as he is with mum who was born 1959 so not yet pension age