Class 2 Voluntary contributions not accepted

ss2020jd

Hi all,

Hoping someone can advise of my options in this situation. I have a few years NI gaps to top up my State pension.  

I called the NI helpline back in January and they then put me through to HMRC who looked up my record and told me how much I could pay class 2 voluntary contributions and the named (four) years that the payment would cover. I paid the full amount against the reference number I was given but nearly two months later only one year has been credited.

After several calls to the NI helpline and after being told several different things from it was a tech issue to I can’t pay class 2 for those years, to someone will call you back (which they never did), I received a letter saying that I can’t pay Class 2 until I can confirm I was self-employed. They are asking for details of my income expenditure and net profit and loss figures for those years. My self assessment tax returns were submitted for all those years but I actually didn’t earn any income from my previous self-employment (or earned less than £1000) for most of those years as I have been recovering from a life-threatening health event and unfortunately have been unable to work since. 

I didn’t claim any benefit during that time or since as my husband was able to support us both at the time but he has now retired. Now it looks like because I didn’t claim benefits but didn’t have any self-employed earnings I am I unable to cover those extra years for pension purposes under Class 2.  I thought I was doing the state a favour by not claiming disability benefit but it seems that I have missed out on NI credits by doing that. 

I think the cost of class 3 will be more than I can afford so just wondering if anyone has any advice on what to do in a situation like this where you haven’t earned and haven’t claimed. I do have all my hospital letters etc as proof and am still under medical care for the same issue having had further surgery a few years ago now. HMRC still have four years of my voluntary class 2 payments. 

Edited to add: I explained all my circumstances to the NI advisor and because of my illness etc he told the HMRC advisor who he put me through to who said that he had ‘double checked everything and that I was able to pay the class 2 on 4 years’. I do have the call recorded as I struggle to remember things and have cognitive issues. 

ShihTzuSlave

Following with interest. This is almost identical to my own experience, except I have six missing years!  This whole process is impossible for someone struggling with health issues. Currently, I don't believe it's worthwhile paying for the missing years, which is around £4k in my case, if they are not going to credit it, even less pay it back.

Also, do I stick my finger in the air and decide whether I'm going to live long enough to get it back. I rejected an annuity for the same reason.

Good luck, nonetheless.

ss2020jd

ShihTzuSlave said:

Following with interest. This is almost identical to my own experience, except I have six missing years!  This whole process is impossible for someone struggling with health issues. Currently, I don't believe it's worthwhile paying for the missing years, which is around £4k in my case, if they are not going to credit it, even less pay it back.

Also, do I stick my finger in the air and decide whether I'm going to live long enough to get it back. I rejected an annuity for the same reason.

Good luck, nonetheless.

Thank you and sorry you are going through a similar thing. 

I haven’t been able to find an answer to my question as yet. I was hoping to have the information ready for when I try to get back in touch with them but I don’t hold out much hope. I have been reading about delays with refunds too. 

The voluntary NI extra year calculator on this site is helpful. I would have to live over five years after pension age to even break even on my calculation using that. 

It is causing me much confusion and it’s difficult to find a definitive answer. Everyone I speak to in HMRC says a different thing.