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Voluntary National Insurance record

Aspatria
Posts: 35 Forumite

I’m confused by my National Insurance record. I am now 60 and will qualify for state pension in 8 years time. My record tells me I have
40 years of full contributions
8 years to contribute before April 2030
3 years when I did not contribute enough.(I have been receiving a small occupational pension for the past 3 years) If I choose to make a voluntary contribution for these 3 years it will cost £1937.
I was under the impression from my employer that I only needed 35 years full contributions to qualify for full state pension but this doesn’t appear to be the case.
Can anyone suggest why this might be?
I have been trying to contact the helpline but to date have been unsuccessful , there are long delays in getting through
40 years of full contributions
8 years to contribute before April 2030
3 years when I did not contribute enough.(I have been receiving a small occupational pension for the past 3 years) If I choose to make a voluntary contribution for these 3 years it will cost £1937.
I was under the impression from my employer that I only needed 35 years full contributions to qualify for full state pension but this doesn’t appear to be the case.
Can anyone suggest why this might be?
I have been trying to contact the helpline but to date have been unsuccessful , there are long delays in getting through
0
Comments
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35 years only applied from a certain point onwards, which you are well past.
How much is it saying your pension will currently be? That's the vital info you have missed out here.1 -
1
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It's true that not everyone needs 35 years. For some it's more, for some it's less. The gov.uk website tells you what is needed in your own situation.
Basically you might have been contracted out in a pension scheme, which meant that for the time you were in the scheme you did not qualify for state pension. Or maybe you simply didn't make enough contributions in one year to qualify for the full amount.
Reading your post again it's not clear how many more years you need to contribute in order to qualify for the full state pension. What does your forecast say about this specifically?1 -
Nothing you have posted indicates if you need to do anything or not. Those numbers are just a statement of fact about your NI record. What exactly does your forecast show ? You will get all the answers on here in 5 minutes, no need to call the help line0
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I was under the impression from my employer that I only needed 35 years full contributions to qualify for full state pension but this doesn’t appear to be the case.Unless they think you were born this century they haven't correctly understood how the new State Pension works.
You will have your own bespoke number of years (ranging from 28/29 to 50+) to reach the standard new State Pension. Or you could have already got it and maybe even accrued a bit extra.
As others have said you need to read your forecast (in full) to know your own position.2 -
I have posted screenshots below
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You need to contribute a further 5 years between now and 5 April 2030 to get the full pension.
However, if you continue to work until state pension age you WILL pay all those 7 years, NI payments do not stop when you reach the required years for the pension.1 -
You need another 5 years to reach the max. With the amount you quoted to top up the 3 back years at leat one of them must be part filled so an easy win. Years going forward are more expensive, 23-24 is £907.40, and future years will increase by inflation so 24-25 will likely be around £971.
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Ayr_Rage said:You need to contribute a further 5 years between now and 5 April 2030 to get the full pension.
However, if you continue to work until state pension age you WILL pay all those 7 years, NI payments do not stop when you reach the required years for the pension.
OP - as the forecast says, you need another 5 full NI years to take you to the maximum £203.85. The first four will take you to £198.67 (I think) and the fifth adds the final £5.18. You can either do this by buying years going forward or by filling the past years that are not full - if any of those past years are partially filled they will be cheaper. You can pay for up to six years back (actually longer at present, but that doesn't impact on you) so if you wanted to you could save your money and pay for five years in one go just prior to claiming your state pension.1 -
Aspatria said:I’m confused by my National Insurance record. I am now 60 and will qualify for state pension in 8 years time. My record tells me I have
40 years of full contributions
8 years to contribute before April 2030
3 years when I did not contribute enough.(I have been receiving a small occupational pension for the past 3 years) If I choose to make a voluntary contribution for these 3 years it will cost £1937.
I was under the impression from my employer that I only needed 35 years full contributions to qualify for full state pension but this doesn’t appear to be the case.
Can anyone suggest why this might be?
I have been trying to contact the helpline but to date have been unsuccessful , there are long delays in getting through
How's your small business going? It might be possible (and cheaper) to pay NI in respect of that: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6215457/setting-up-a-small-business-do-i-need-an-accountant-or-online-tools#latestGoogling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!0
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