Pre pay national insurance?

missphysique67

I'm 56 and have full national insurance qualification years. I've checked and there are no gaps. If I stop working now, will I still be entitled to the full state pension even though I will not have paid anymore contributions in the next 11yrs?! Or could/should I pay contributions even if I'm not working? 

Sarahspangles

Just to be certain, when you accessed your pension forecast did you see “You cannot improve your forecast any more” and not “ You need to continue to contribute National Insurance to reach your forecast”.  It’s possible to have 40+ years full with no gaps and to still need to contribute more, the change to requiring 35 years from 2016 has misled some people.

We’re similar ages and I will reach full contributions this tax year. We can pay no further contributions and still be entitled to the full state pension. No need for voluntary contributions.

Silvertabby

As Sarah says, it's your actual pension forecast that matters, not your years of NI contributions.

Everyone is different.  If you have never been contracted out, then it is possible that you have reached the maximum nSP and don't need to pay any more.  On the other hand, I retired at 60 (SPA 66) with 44 years of continuous NI years, but needed to pay 4 years of voluntary Class 3s to take me up to the full nSP rate.  Not complaining!  I consider myself to be one of the winners under the new pension scheme, as my pension is much more than it would have been under the old rules.

missphysique67

Sarahspangles said:

Just to be certain, when you accessed your pension forecast did you see “You cannot improve your forecast any more” and not “ You need to continue to contribute National Insurance to reach your forecast”.  It’s possible to have 40+ years full with no gaps and to still need to contribute more, the change to requiring 35 years from 2016 has misled some people.

We’re similar ages and I will reach full contributions this tax year. We can pay no further contributions and still be entitled to the full state pension. No need for voluntary contributions.

Yes, it said I cannot improve my my forecast any more. I guess that means I'm good to retire 🙃 🙂 

Suhusa

Just to be on the safe side, what does it say in the bullet points directly underneath the  green box? Because I also have a line saying I cannot improve my forecast, despite having a record of 5 years. If none of the bullet points says something about assuming 'that you'll contribute another X years' then you really don't need to contribute anything.