Can you make voluntary NI contributions once you claim your pension and continue working?

bongamon

• My dad hits pension age on 6th April 24.
• He intends to continue working "until he can't"
• He currently has 28 Years of NI contributions.
• He is able to purchase 2 years which he will do (£206 Total cost) making it 31 years including the current year.
• His forecast at the moment is "if you contribute until 5 April 2024 - £169.95 a week"
• "The most you can increase your forecast to is - £181.60 a week"

• Cope Estimate

  - £7.10 Week

• He is currently contributing into a nest pension scheme but this does not have a significant total value at £7200.
• My Mum has a full state pension that will start in November of this year.

I know you usually stop paying national insurance once you claim your pension. If he claims his pension in April 24 and continues to work, will he be able to make voluntary contributions to gain an additional 4 years to make it a full pension?

If it's possible, is this the best option?

Open to any suggestions.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Irrespective of whether he's working or not he cannot add any years after 2023-24.

Is there scope for more earlier years or are the 2 you mention all there is?

bongamon

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Irrespective of whether he's working or not he cannot add any years after 2023-24.

Is there scope for more earlier years or are the 2 you mention all there is?

Ah, I thought you could defer the state pension to continue to pay but I guess that's only if you haven't claimed the pension?

There might be one more year in there as 2015-2016 says “We are checking this year to see if it counts towards your pension. We’ll update your record when this is finished, you do not need to do anything.” But it has said this for months now so I think I need to call HMRC to see what’s going on with this.

The remaining gaps after this are too far back at:

90-91 - 22 Weeks

91-92 - 29 Weeks

I think the next best option might be to increase his contributions into his Nest Pension until he stops working and actually needs the money.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Was he self employed in 2015-16?

You can defer and receive an increased pension (1% for each 9 weeks deferred) but you can't defer and add extra years in the way you mean.

xylophone

He could pay as many back years as possible.

Claim his SP - he should receive an invitation to claim early in the new year.

Regard the SP as "salary replacement" and pay as much as possible into his NEST pension while he is under age 75.

molerat

Whilst having the "we are checking" status that year does not exist - it adds nothing to the pension and is not an available year - it is not reflected in that max achievable of £181.60 - so once that is sorted he may be able to add another year to the total - at either £5.82 or £5.21 depending on how his starting amount is calculated.

bongamon

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Was he self employed in 2015-16?

You can defer and receive an increased pension (1% for each 9 weeks deferred) but you can't defer and add extra years in the way you mean.

I don't think he was self-employed at this point. Ah ok, so there's really no point in deferring...ever...?

xylophone said:

He could pay as many back years as possible.

Claim his SP - he should receive an invitation to claim early in the new year.

Regard the SP as "salary replacement" and pay as much as possible into his NEST pension while he is under age 75.

This sounds like a good option, it also means he will be able to top up to a level to access the nest-guided retirement fund as this needs a minimum of 10K in the pot to be eligible.

molerat said:

Whilst having the "we are checking" status that year does not exist - it adds nothing to the pension and is not an available year - it is not reflected in that max achievable of £181.60 - so once that is sorted he may be able to add another year to the total - at either £5.82 or £5.21 depending on how his starting amount is calculated.

oh that might be good news, I will call HMRC with him and try and figure out what is going on with that year. Interestingly this actually happened twice more in the years 1997-1998 and 1999-2000. Too far back to top up if needed but could it be possible these are complete years and might add on another 2 years if probed?

molerat

but could it be possible these are complete years and might add on another 2 years if probed

Unlikely but nothing is impossible.  The usual reason for that note is when registered self employed and not paying class 2, any contributions made would usually override the note.