32 Years for full State Pension

QrizB

marc-h_2 said:

I guess my confusion is because I consider our situation very typical but we seem to require less years contributions than what is usual.

There is no "usual" - some people need more, some need less, depending on their NI record prior to 2016. It's unusual for someone who was employed prior to 2016 to need exactly 35 years.

p00hsticks

MTB1986 said:

 No idea why it’s relatively few compared to some others, as I’ve never been contracted out etc, but I’m happy with that! 

It's precisely the fact that you haven't ever been contracted out that makes it relatively few - it's the ones who were who often need more than 35 to get to the new maximum (which is higher than they would have been expecting for most of their working lives, so they're gaining rather than losing out). 

af1963

For the 16 years before  2016:If you were never in a personal pension, you were paying full NI with no contracting out, and therefore building up entitlement to an extra SERPS/ State Second Pension for 16 years in addition to your basic state pension. The exact amount would depend on your earnings.  It used to be possible to build up quite a large extra pension under SERPS/SSP.

That extra would have been included in your new pension starting amount in 2016 on top of your entitlement at that time to an "old style" pension ( probably 16/30 of the old SP amount of £120 = £64).

Working backwards from your reported numbers, I reckon your SERPS/SSP must have been around £8  so your starting value would have been ( in 2016) about £72 per week.  That's a plausible SERPS amount for low/average salary/

Every year after 2016 adds another 1/35 of the new pension (roughly £5.30 each year, at 2016 rates) until you got to the maximum of about £156.  In your case, the 'gap' would have been £156-£72 = £84. So that would take 16 years after 2016 to fill.

All the figures are uprated for inflation annually so the full pension is now over £200; but you still need the same 16 years to qualify.

hyubh

MTB1986 said:

No idea why it’s relatively few compared to some others, as I’ve never been contracted out etc

Well exactly. If you were never contracted out, then you were likely on course for accruing a larger state pension than the one you will actually receive. The old state pension was essentially in two parts, the basic state pension for everyone plus a salary related additional pension for contracted in people, and in its later 'State Second Pension' guise, for low paid contacted out people too to an extent. Simplifying a lot, the post-2016 state pension cuts the difference and uses a non-salary related system (with a higher accrual than the old basic state pension) for everyone.

af1963

molerat said:

  You are one of the  losers as you are limited to the new £203.85 rather than £360.86 that was possible under the old rules.

Well, maybe ... but as people earning below average, would he and his wife have got anywhere close to £360 ? I reckon ( earlier post ) he had 'earned' about £8 SSP before 2016.  

They may lose out in the sense that if they need to continue working after 2032, they'll still need to pay NI but it won't further increase their pensions.

Novice_investor101

I was contracted out from (possibly) 2002 to 2015 when my DB pension closed. I have 26 full years NI from age 16 & my forecast says I need another 8 years to get the full £203.xx amount. There’s still another 26.5 years to go to my state pension age. I’m assuming it means if I wanted to stop work earlier than age 68 I’ll get full SP as long as I carry on working for another 8 full years. 

I’m 41 so the prospect of filling my “stamp” book by age 50 helps along my retire early journey. 

jimi_man

As an example of the other side of the coin, I’m in my last year of state pension accrual and I’m 58 - having worked constantly since leaving school at 18. (Plus two years from 16-18). So that’s 42 years in total to get the maximum £203.85. 

I was contracted out for 30 years. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Novice_investor101 said:

I was contracted out from (possibly) 2002 to 2015 when my DB pension closed. I have 26 full years NI from age 16 & my forecast says I need another 8 years to get the full £203.xx amount. There’s still another 26.5 years to go to my state pension age. I’m assuming it means if I wanted to stop work earlier than age 68 I’ll get full SP as long as I carry on working for another 8 full years. 

I’m 41 so the prospect of filling my “stamp” book by age 50 helps along my retire early journey. 

You don't even need to work for another 8 full years.

Decent earnings for part of a year can add a qualifying year.  Or you could get credits from either a benefit claim or from looking after grandchildren.

dunstonh

Thanks for the responses. I've been on a fairly typical salary (a bit less than the national average) and the only pension payments I've made are into a Nest pension since it became compulsory for employers  to offer this. I guess it may need to speak to the relevant department as I get closer to the point where it says I have made full contributions and I start to make decisions on future employment plans. 

Effectively you are a loser under the new system.   By not contracting out, it shortened the number of years to qualify but you get nothing extra to show for it.    Whereas someone who contracted out and has sufficient years to build entitlement to the new maximum will also have their contracted out fund/benefits built up.

Sarahspangles

jimi_man said:

As an example of the other side of the coin, I’m in my last year of state pension accrual and I’m 58 - having worked constantly since leaving school at 18. (Plus two years from 16-18). So that’s 42 years in total to get the maximum £203.85. 

I was contracted out for 30 years. 

My OH is similar - he retired with 45 years filled, but still needs to ‘buy’ this current tax year to get a full state pension at 67.