Boosting your state pension should now be quicker and easier as new online tool launches

Sarahspangles

I’ve just checked my HMRC app, and my NI record for 2023/24 has been updated. This may resolve some of the issues people have reported.

Martyn_H

I wasn't able to plug my one year NI gap via the HMRC app as I've stopped paying NI due to retirement. However, I phoned HMRC and used the webchat option, which was manned by a human and very quick. I now have my 18 digit payment reference number.

pinnks

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

I fell into that trap too but if you read the question carefully, you see it is not relevant to your situation (or mine) as you do not envisage stopping paying NI before pension age - you envisage continuing to pay voluntarily.  Very poorly worded question in my view.  If you choose another option (I cannot recall them all without looking), then it takes you further and shows the years you can fill, though unhelpfully, makes no reference to 2023/24 even though that year is not closed.

Anyway, I need to pay 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 to max out on my pension (due 2024/25) and it shows the correct info and outcome for the first 2.  Perhaps 2023/24 will show up once NI records for that year are updated more generally but it would be helpful to have received a message saying something along those lines.

If you know what you are doing and understand the detail of the rules then you can navigate it but for many at whom it is aimed it will serve only to further confuse.

The only option out of the 4 possibilities that worked for me was 'Before I reach State Pension age', I then had to enter a date at some point in the future when I would stop paying NI. I could then see the years that I could pay for, although the quoted figures for the amount the weekly pension would increase by didn't seem correct. I think the system assumes you will keep working until the date you entered, and includes those years in the calculation. I'm reasonably clued up on this, but the fact that paying for one year apparently increased the weekly pension by more than the expected £6.32 (£12.64 actually) confused me and resulted in a call to FPC. So much for a simple, online system to make class 3 NI contributions!

This sparked my interest, so I logged in to have a look.

I can select either the "until I reach pension age", or a "point in the future options" and get similarly confusing information.

As mentioned earlier, it seems they don't show 2023/24 yet but do assume that you will pay all future years until your chosen stop date.

So, if I pay the gap year 2021/22 and am presumed to pay 2023/24, then my pension will increase by 2 x £6.32.  It then says that if I pay for my 2 gap years, I increase my estimate by 3 x £6.32. While technically correct it will confuse the hxxl out of anyone who is not well-versed in the rules.  All it needs is a line that says, filling this gap will add £6.32 and continuing to pay for 2023/24 until 20XX/YY will add a further £X.

I think the reason why 'When I reach State Pension age' gave me zero options to pay for missing years (despite having two missing years) is that I have more than 6 years to state pension age (retired early) and I only need 6 years to get the maximum state pension. The system assumes I will work/receive credits for those 6 years and hence don't need to buy extra years! I plan to buy the two missing years before the price goes up next April 2025. I agree that the way the figures are presented will cause confusion, indeed in a post earlier in this thread someone thought they had bought an extra ~£12 per week pension by buying one missing year.

I am in the same position as you, though I stopped working in 2019 and needed to pay the remaining 5 years voluntarily.  What i describe above is my final 3 years to reach my max (about £1.10 below the nSP max).

Clearly there are a number of "undocumented features" in the new system that will hopefully get ironed out over the coming weeks and months...

Hoenir

pinnks said:

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

I fell into that trap too but if you read the question carefully, you see it is not relevant to your situation (or mine) as you do not envisage stopping paying NI before pension age - you envisage continuing to pay voluntarily.  Very poorly worded question in my view.  If you choose another option (I cannot recall them all without looking), then it takes you further and shows the years you can fill, though unhelpfully, makes no reference to 2023/24 even though that year is not closed.

Anyway, I need to pay 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 to max out on my pension (due 2024/25) and it shows the correct info and outcome for the first 2.  Perhaps 2023/24 will show up once NI records for that year are updated more generally but it would be helpful to have received a message saying something along those lines.

If you know what you are doing and understand the detail of the rules then you can navigate it but for many at whom it is aimed it will serve only to further confuse.

The only option out of the 4 possibilities that worked for me was 'Before I reach State Pension age', I then had to enter a date at some point in the future when I would stop paying NI. I could then see the years that I could pay for, although the quoted figures for the amount the weekly pension would increase by didn't seem correct. I think the system assumes you will keep working until the date you entered, and includes those years in the calculation. I'm reasonably clued up on this, but the fact that paying for one year apparently increased the weekly pension by more than the expected £6.32 (£12.64 actually) confused me and resulted in a call to FPC. So much for a simple, online system to make class 3 NI contributions!

This sparked my interest, so I logged in to have a look.

I can select either the "until I reach pension age", or a "point in the future options" and get similarly confusing information.

As mentioned earlier, it seems they don't show 2023/24 yet but do assume that you will pay all future years until your chosen stop date.

So, if I pay the gap year 2021/22 and am presumed to pay 2023/24, then my pension will increase by 2 x £6.32.  It then says that if I pay for my 2 gap years, I increase my estimate by 3 x £6.32. While technically correct it will confuse the hxxl out of anyone who is not well-versed in the rules.  All it needs is a line that says, filling this gap will add £6.32 and continuing to pay for 2023/24 until 20XX/YY will add a further £X.

I think the reason why 'When I reach State Pension age' gave me zero options to pay for missing years (despite having two missing years) is that I have more than 6 years to state pension age (retired early) and I only need 6 years to get the maximum state pension. The system assumes I will work/receive credits for those 6 years and hence don't need to buy extra years! I plan to buy the two missing years before the price goes up next April 2025. I agree that the way the figures are presented will cause confusion, indeed in a post earlier in this thread someone thought they had bought an extra ~£12 per week pension by buying one missing year.

I am in the same position as you, though I stopped working in 2019 and needed to pay the remaining 5 years voluntarily.  What i describe above is my final 3 years to reach my max (about £1.10 below the nSP max).

Clearly there are a number of "undocumented features" in the new system that will hopefully get ironed out over the coming weeks and months...

The system is no doubt designed to remove the volume of basic enquiries away from the call handlers. Leaving them to deal with a small % of genuine more complex enquires. 

Doctor_Who

pinnks said:

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

I fell into that trap too but if you read the question carefully, you see it is not relevant to your situation (or mine) as you do not envisage stopping paying NI before pension age - you envisage continuing to pay voluntarily.  Very poorly worded question in my view.  If you choose another option (I cannot recall them all without looking), then it takes you further and shows the years you can fill, though unhelpfully, makes no reference to 2023/24 even though that year is not closed.

Anyway, I need to pay 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 to max out on my pension (due 2024/25) and it shows the correct info and outcome for the first 2.  Perhaps 2023/24 will show up once NI records for that year are updated more generally but it would be helpful to have received a message saying something along those lines.

If you know what you are doing and understand the detail of the rules then you can navigate it but for many at whom it is aimed it will serve only to further confuse.

The only option out of the 4 possibilities that worked for me was 'Before I reach State Pension age', I then had to enter a date at some point in the future when I would stop paying NI. I could then see the years that I could pay for, although the quoted figures for the amount the weekly pension would increase by didn't seem correct. I think the system assumes you will keep working until the date you entered, and includes those years in the calculation. I'm reasonably clued up on this, but the fact that paying for one year apparently increased the weekly pension by more than the expected £6.32 (£12.64 actually) confused me and resulted in a call to FPC. So much for a simple, online system to make class 3 NI contributions!

This sparked my interest, so I logged in to have a look.

I can select either the "until I reach pension age", or a "point in the future options" and get similarly confusing information.

As mentioned earlier, it seems they don't show 2023/24 yet but do assume that you will pay all future years until your chosen stop date.

So, if I pay the gap year 2021/22 and am presumed to pay 2023/24, then my pension will increase by 2 x £6.32.  It then says that if I pay for my 2 gap years, I increase my estimate by 3 x £6.32. While technically correct it will confuse the hxxl out of anyone who is not well-versed in the rules.  All it needs is a line that says, filling this gap will add £6.32 and continuing to pay for 2023/24 until 20XX/YY will add a further £X.

I think the reason why 'When I reach State Pension age' gave me zero options to pay for missing years (despite having two missing years) is that I have more than 6 years to state pension age (retired early) and I only need 6 years to get the maximum state pension. The system assumes I will work/receive credits for those 6 years and hence don't need to buy extra years! I plan to buy the two missing years before the price goes up next April 2025. I agree that the way the figures are presented will cause confusion, indeed in a post earlier in this thread someone thought they had bought an extra ~£12 per week pension by buying one missing year.

I am in the same position as you, though I stopped working in 2019 and needed to pay the remaining 5 years voluntarily.  What i describe above is my final 3 years to reach my max (about £1.10 below the nSP max).

Clearly there are a number of "undocumented features" in the new system that will hopefully get ironed out over the coming weeks and months...

I've just gone through the online process to buy two missing years. Once I had chosen which option I wanted (options were to buy one or two years) I was presented with a summary page, on which it says 'Your forecast assumes that you'll contribute another 6 years' (my bold). Hence, as we suspected, the forecast figures and weekly pension increases that are shown assume that you will continue to contribute in future years, in addition to the voluntary contribution just made. For me, the summary screen shows that my voluntary contribution will NOT increase my weekly pension since the assumed 6 years of future contributions is enough to give me the maximum pension. Whilst technically correct, had I not known better (all my future contributions will be voluntary) I may have bailed at that point and not made the payment for the missing two years! Not sure why there isn't an option for working/receiving NI credits and retired early (not working), that way they could avoid some of the assumptions made.

pinnks

Hoenir said:

pinnks said:

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

I fell into that trap too but if you read the question carefully, you see it is not relevant to your situation (or mine) as you do not envisage stopping paying NI before pension age - you envisage continuing to pay voluntarily.  Very poorly worded question in my view.  If you choose another option (I cannot recall them all without looking), then it takes you further and shows the years you can fill, though unhelpfully, makes no reference to 2023/24 even though that year is not closed.

Anyway, I need to pay 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 to max out on my pension (due 2024/25) and it shows the correct info and outcome for the first 2.  Perhaps 2023/24 will show up once NI records for that year are updated more generally but it would be helpful to have received a message saying something along those lines.

If you know what you are doing and understand the detail of the rules then you can navigate it but for many at whom it is aimed it will serve only to further confuse.

The only option out of the 4 possibilities that worked for me was 'Before I reach State Pension age', I then had to enter a date at some point in the future when I would stop paying NI. I could then see the years that I could pay for, although the quoted figures for the amount the weekly pension would increase by didn't seem correct. I think the system assumes you will keep working until the date you entered, and includes those years in the calculation. I'm reasonably clued up on this, but the fact that paying for one year apparently increased the weekly pension by more than the expected £6.32 (£12.64 actually) confused me and resulted in a call to FPC. So much for a simple, online system to make class 3 NI contributions!

This sparked my interest, so I logged in to have a look.

I can select either the "until I reach pension age", or a "point in the future options" and get similarly confusing information.

As mentioned earlier, it seems they don't show 2023/24 yet but do assume that you will pay all future years until your chosen stop date.

So, if I pay the gap year 2021/22 and am presumed to pay 2023/24, then my pension will increase by 2 x £6.32.  It then says that if I pay for my 2 gap years, I increase my estimate by 3 x £6.32. While technically correct it will confuse the hxxl out of anyone who is not well-versed in the rules.  All it needs is a line that says, filling this gap will add £6.32 and continuing to pay for 2023/24 until 20XX/YY will add a further £X.

I think the reason why 'When I reach State Pension age' gave me zero options to pay for missing years (despite having two missing years) is that I have more than 6 years to state pension age (retired early) and I only need 6 years to get the maximum state pension. The system assumes I will work/receive credits for those 6 years and hence don't need to buy extra years! I plan to buy the two missing years before the price goes up next April 2025. I agree that the way the figures are presented will cause confusion, indeed in a post earlier in this thread someone thought they had bought an extra ~£12 per week pension by buying one missing year.

I am in the same position as you, though I stopped working in 2019 and needed to pay the remaining 5 years voluntarily.  What i describe above is my final 3 years to reach my max (about £1.10 below the nSP max).

Clearly there are a number of "undocumented features" in the new system that will hopefully get ironed out over the coming weeks and months...

The system is no doubt designed to remove the volume of basic enquiries away from the call handlers. Leaving them to deal with a small % of genuine more complex enquires. 

It might well be intended to do that but based on what people have seen so far, I fear it will not succeed in that aim, well not until the first update is applied to the programme, lol

pinnks

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

Doctor_Who said:

pinnks said:

I fell into that trap too but if you read the question carefully, you see it is not relevant to your situation (or mine) as you do not envisage stopping paying NI before pension age - you envisage continuing to pay voluntarily.  Very poorly worded question in my view.  If you choose another option (I cannot recall them all without looking), then it takes you further and shows the years you can fill, though unhelpfully, makes no reference to 2023/24 even though that year is not closed.

Anyway, I need to pay 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 to max out on my pension (due 2024/25) and it shows the correct info and outcome for the first 2.  Perhaps 2023/24 will show up once NI records for that year are updated more generally but it would be helpful to have received a message saying something along those lines.

If you know what you are doing and understand the detail of the rules then you can navigate it but for many at whom it is aimed it will serve only to further confuse.

The only option out of the 4 possibilities that worked for me was 'Before I reach State Pension age', I then had to enter a date at some point in the future when I would stop paying NI. I could then see the years that I could pay for, although the quoted figures for the amount the weekly pension would increase by didn't seem correct. I think the system assumes you will keep working until the date you entered, and includes those years in the calculation. I'm reasonably clued up on this, but the fact that paying for one year apparently increased the weekly pension by more than the expected £6.32 (£12.64 actually) confused me and resulted in a call to FPC. So much for a simple, online system to make class 3 NI contributions!

This sparked my interest, so I logged in to have a look.

I can select either the "until I reach pension age", or a "point in the future options" and get similarly confusing information.

As mentioned earlier, it seems they don't show 2023/24 yet but do assume that you will pay all future years until your chosen stop date.

So, if I pay the gap year 2021/22 and am presumed to pay 2023/24, then my pension will increase by 2 x £6.32.  It then says that if I pay for my 2 gap years, I increase my estimate by 3 x £6.32. While technically correct it will confuse the hxxl out of anyone who is not well-versed in the rules.  All it needs is a line that says, filling this gap will add £6.32 and continuing to pay for 2023/24 until 20XX/YY will add a further £X.

I think the reason why 'When I reach State Pension age' gave me zero options to pay for missing years (despite having two missing years) is that I have more than 6 years to state pension age (retired early) and I only need 6 years to get the maximum state pension. The system assumes I will work/receive credits for those 6 years and hence don't need to buy extra years! I plan to buy the two missing years before the price goes up next April 2025. I agree that the way the figures are presented will cause confusion, indeed in a post earlier in this thread someone thought they had bought an extra ~£12 per week pension by buying one missing year.

I am in the same position as you, though I stopped working in 2019 and needed to pay the remaining 5 years voluntarily.  What i describe above is my final 3 years to reach my max (about £1.10 below the nSP max).

Clearly there are a number of "undocumented features" in the new system that will hopefully get ironed out over the coming weeks and months...

I've just gone through the online process to buy two missing years. Once I had chosen which option I wanted (options were to buy one or two years) I was presented with a summary page, on which it says 'Your forecast assumes that you'll contribute another 6 years' (my bold). Hence, as we suspected, the forecast figures and weekly pension increases that are shown assume that you will continue to contribute in future years, in addition to the voluntary contribution just made. For me, the summary screen shows that my voluntary contribution will NOT increase my weekly pension since the assumed 6 years of future contributions is enough to give me the maximum pension. Whilst technically correct, had I not known better (all my future contributions will be voluntary) I may have bailed at that point and not made the payment for the missing two years! Not sure why there isn't an option for working/receiving NI credits and retired early (not working), that way they could avoid some of the assumptions made.

Interesting and will certainly cause people to worry and/or make incorrect decisions, leading to more phone calls.  Oh well, progress of a sort.

ProDave

So the lesson from this, is don't tell them that you are intending to stop working and hence stop paying any more NI UNTIL you have all the qualifying years you need in the bag for a full state pension.

Sarahspangles

ProDave said:

So the lesson from this, is don't tell them that you are intending to stop working and hence stop paying any more NI UNTIL you have all the qualifying years you need in the bag for a full state pension.

OH retired in 2022/23, needing one more year. Now that 2023/24 has updated that year should show as available to purchase. It will be interesting to see if there is a route for him to do this. I think HMRC have to factor in a scenario where he comes out of retirement in one or more of the four remaining years that would count.

Sea_Shell

Another here who falls foul of the "finished paying NI".   I have zero intention of going back to work 😉

I can sort of see why they're doing this, to avoid the cries of "you let me buy a year i didn't need to, coz i got a new job".

Still a shame.