Paying my final year of NI contributions.

Baron_Dale

I am due to receive my state pension from July 2024. I applied just over a week ago and yesterday received the figures which are as expected at the moment. I currently have 46 full years up to April 2023. I need to pay one more year(Year 47) to achieve a full 'new' state pension minus a few pence, as  I was contracted out for many years working as a teacher.
 
I only worked for 3 months in the current 2023/2024 financial year, so will need to pay a voluntary NI sum to ensure the year 47 is complete. I have kept a close eye my NI and state pension forecast through the government gateway.

The awkward thing is that my pension starts in July, but they do not always update what NI is owing for the previous tax year until October/November. I know this, having had to top up a couple of years previously.

Do you think if I contacted them in May or June I might be able to get a figure for the NI owed and pay it in time for my first state pension payment? If I cannot do this, (until say November) am I correct to assume that once I have made the payment the increase in my state pension to almost the full amount, (£5 plus per week) will be backdated to when my pension begins in July?
 
I did look at the government forum about this and it said that when the payment is made a digital update is sent from the HMRC to the DWP so that pension entitlement amounts can be adjusted. 

I hope I have explained myself correctly. Ideally Year 47 could be paid asap and my final pension figure be ready for July. However, I do appreciate this may not be possible.

Any comments or reassurance are most welcome. Many thanks.

molerat

How much did you earn in those 3 months ?  If over £6396 then you could have a full year.  Voluntary contributions will only add to the pension from the date they are paid, it will not be backdated to SPA.  A bit of an awkward situation but it may be worth speaking to HMRC, they can often have a look at your situation.

Baron_Dale

I only earnt about £3000 as it was a part-time teaching contract. Thank you for your response. I will phone them in a few weeks. May. They tend to be incredibly busy in April. I know it is only a few pounds a week, but would to like to have things sorted.

bones1958

@Baron_Dale

I am in a very similar situation to yourself. SP due in September 2024. Retired from employment in 2016 after 41 years service and drew my FS pension from employer. I was contracted out since day one in 1978, so aware that I would probably need to contribute more NI to ensure being paid full SP.

Since 2016, I had no employment in 2017 but did register as self employed from 2018 onwards until tax year end April 2023, when I ceased trading (holiday rental income). In that period I paid Class 2 NI. For this tax year (23/24) I will receive another full year NI due to registering for Carers Allowance (will still have the tax to pay for that additional income but that’s 9 months down the line and accounted for).

Anyhow, reason for replying to you was, I had a couple of incomplete years in that 2016/2017 period. After many attempts, eventually got through to both the FPC and HMRC NI lines. They were able to advise what and how much I needed to pay to bring my NI contributions up to the level required to obtain full SP. Payments made in January 2024. However, I was advised this could, or mor3 likely would, take a number of weeks to filter through. Of course, my main worry was, would it be in time before I claim SP? I was assured if it wasn’t processed by the time I’m ‘invited’ to apply for SP, I was to phone the Helpline again as early in the day as possible, and they would put through an ‘exception request’ to update my record before Sept 2024. Hopefully it won’t come to that. I’ll give it to May/June and then start panicking again!!

BTW - as a humorous side note - when speaking to the HMRC adviser, I informed him that once the required updates are processed, I will have effectively contributed for 49 of the maximum 50 years allowed to ensure a full SP payment. The advisor was astonished at this saying he’d ”never had an enquiry from anyone with that number of NI contributory years (49) before.”

From calculation and FPC advice, the missing year to make it 50 out of 50 is not required, even though( it currently shows shows on my NI record as requiring £600+ to pay to make the year full. I just hope that doesn’t come back to bite me but I won’t know until my NI record is updated and viewable in my Gateway account.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

bones1958 said:

@Baron_Dale

I am in a very similar situation to yourself. SP due in September 2024. Retired from employment in 2016 after 41 years service and drew my FS pension from employer. I was contracted out since day one in 1978, so aware that I would probably need to contribute more NI to ensure being paid full SP.

Since 2016, I had no employment in 2017 but did register as self employed from 2018 onwards until tax year end April 2023, when I ceased trading (holiday rental income). In that period I paid Class 2 NI. For this tax year (23/24) I will receive another full year NI due to registering for Carers Allowance (will still have the tax to pay for that additional income but that’s 9 months down the line and accounted for).

Anyhow, reason for replying to you was, I had a couple of incomplete years in that 2016/2017 period. After many attempts, eventually got through to both the FPC and HMRC NI lines. They were able to advise what and how much I needed to pay to bring my NI contributions up to the level required to obtain full SP. Payments made in January 2024. However, I was advised this could, or mor3 likely would, take a number of weeks to filter through. Of course, my main worry was, would it be in time before I claim SP? I was assured if it wasn’t processed by the time I’m ‘invited’ to apply for SP, I was to phone the Helpline again as early in the day as possible, and they would put through an ‘exception request’ to update my record before Sept 2024. Hopefully it won’t come to that. I’ll give it to May/June and then start panicking again!!

BTW - as a humorous side note - when speaking to the HMRC adviser, I informed him that once the required updates are processed, I will have effectively contributed for 49 of the maximum 50 years allowed to ensure a full SP payment. The advisor was astonished at this saying he’d ”never had an enquiry from anyone with that number of NI contributory years (49) before.”

From calculation and FPC advice, the missing year to make it 50 out of 50 is not required, even though( it currently shows shows on my NI record as requiring £600+ to pay to make the year full. I just hope that doesn’t come back to bite me but I won’t know until my NI record is updated and viewable in my Gateway account.

Your NI record will show what is needed to make a year full.

Whether that year needs to be made up is a completely different matter.

For those under transitional rules the range of years needed, from posters on here, has been 28-51 I think.