State Pension

anniemf20

I have 44 years full NI contributions but my pension forecast is £176.68 per week. My record states that I have 5 years where I did not contribute enough and 1 year left to contribute.  I left work when I was sixty for various reasons, therefore, the 5 years I did not contribute enough were from then.I understand that part of receiving the lower amount is due to me being contracted out but surely with 44 years full contributions I should receive more than what is being forecast. I was under the impression that you only needed 35 years NI contributions to receive the full pension. I am due to collect my pension in October 2023.  Can anyone shed any light on this please?

Audaxer

The 35 years only applies to those who started paying NI from 2016. I am in a similar position as you with 47 years full NI paid, but still need another 2 years voluntary contributions to get to the max amount. It is definitely worth paying the voluntary NI.

p00hsticks

The 35 years only applies to those born this century, whose entire working lives will therefore fall under the new State Pension introduced in 2016. 

Those of us like you and me born earlier fall under transitional rules. 
When the new State Pension was introduced in 2016, two calculations of our entitlement were done for each of us, one under the old rules and one under the new. The higher of the two became our 'starting amount', and after that point, any NI years going forward add 1/35th of the new State Pension maximum amount (currently £203.85) to that amount until the maximum is reached. 

@xylophone often posts the exact calculations, but briefly;

The old ('basic state pension') rules used a maximum of 30 NI years in the calculation - anything more wouldn't increase the basic amount (although if you were contracted in it might have built up some extra additional SERPS/S2P). 

The new used 35 years - but to allow for the fact that prior to 2016 people paid different rates of NI depending on whether they were contracted in or out of SERPS/S2P, the calculation deducts a 'Contracted Out Pension Equivalent' or COPE amount - you can see what your is in your State Pension forecast if you click on the link where it tells you you have been contracted out at some point in the past.  

For those of us who spent most of our working lives contracted out, the upshot is that our starting amount would almost certainly have be that under the old rules, giving us a starting amount equal to the old basic state pension rate (currently £156.20). The good new for those of us who didn't/ don't reach State Retirement Age for a few years after 2016 is that it also gives us a great  unexpected opportunity, by getting post 2016 years either through work, voluntary contributions or benefit credits, to boost the amount we had been expecting for most of our working lives by over £40 a week to the new maximum of £203.85. 

If you have stopped working and cannot get credits (e.g. by looking after grandchildren while the parents work) then making voluntary contributions for post-2016 years represents a really good return on your investment, as you would effectively get you money back by the time you are around 70 and after that you are quids in. 

anniemf20

I feel like I have lost out twice.  I was planning to retire when I was sixty and then that was pushed to 66 for women born in the 50's and now I don't even get the full pension.  

Linton

anniemf20 said:

I feel like I have lost out twice.  I was planning to retire when I was sixty and then that was pushed to 66 for women born in the 50's and now I don't even get the full pension.  

You get the pension you paid for under the old rules up to April 2016. This is known as the "basic" state pension.  It did not include the "additional" state pension component because you were  contracted out of that scheme.  If the old rules had been retained you would have had no opportunity to increase it.  Under the new rules you have the opporrtunity to increase your SP for a relatively small extra payment.

So you are a winner, not a loser.

xylophone

At 6/4/16 (inception of NSP) two calculations were done for you - your "starting amount" for NSP was the higher of your entitlement under

Old Rules

{NI Qualifying Years/30 (max) x Full Basic State Pension} + Additional State Pension - (if applicable) Deduction for Contracting Out.

In your case 

£119.30 + (ASP - "COD").

New Rules

{NIQY/35 (max) x Full New State Pension} - Contracted Out Pension Equivalent.

In your case

£155.65 - COPE.

Your SA was lower than a full NSP and you had a number of years before you reached SPA.

Only NI contributions to achieve QYs between 6/4/16 and 5/4/23  could improve your starting amount up to (but not exceeding) a full NSP.

p00hsticks

anniemf20 said:

I feel like I have lost out twice.  I was planning to retire when I was sixty and then that was pushed to 66 for women born in the 50's and now I don't even get the full pension.  

But you say you actually did retire at 60 as you had planned.
 
You just couldn't claim your state pension straight away.
As I and others have pointed out you are getting at least the amount of state pension you should have been expecting for the majority of your working life.  

And, as long as you live beyond seventy or so and are prepared to make voluntary contributions, the increase in your the state pension age will probably eventually turn out to have worked in your favour, as you now have the opportunity to increase your weekly state pension by over £30 a week, that you wouldn't have had if you had reached state pension age in 2017.