Buying Missing NI Years

blee42

Following Martin's recent reminder, had a look at my wifes NI record and found some gaps from 2006/07 to 2012/13. Call HMRC and was told that we can buy the missing years but it won't affect the pension that she is already receiving. That's not what we understood from Martin's explanation

DE_612183

does she get the full pension?

you can buy more years, but you won't get anymore than the full pension.

Also what age is your wife?

blee42

Thansk for the prompt responses.
She's 71 and not on a full pension. There's only a couple of years missing that it would be worth buying, 2012 / 13 @ £31, and 2009 / 10 @ £110. The other years a empty so would cost £824 each so not worth buying.

blee42

She has a total of 25 years of full NI contributions

p00hsticks

blee42 said:

Thansk for the prompt responses.
She's 71 and not on a full pension. 

So she reached State Pension Age under the new system (post -April 2016). 
Exactly how much is she receiving ?
Was she a stay at home mum at any point, and if so when ? (This could have had the effect of reducing the number of years she needed)  

eskbanker

blee42 said:

Thansk for the prompt responses.
She's 71 and not on a full pension. There's only a couple of years missing that it would be worth buying, 2012 / 13 @ £31, and 2009 / 10 @ £110. The other years a empty so would cost £824 each so not worth buying.

Just because some years are lower cost than others doesn't mean they're actually worth buying!  If none of them would actually increase the payment then there's no point in buying any....

molerat

I am a bit confused here.

If she was born after 5 April 1953 she would be under the 2016 pension.  If she only has 25 full years, is not receiving the full new pension and there are gaps post 2006 then purchasing some of those years must add value.  

If she was born pre April 6 1953 she would be under the old pension so any pre 2016 gaps would not be available to fill, there is no "can be filled but will not add".

So ....

Was she born pre or post April 6 1953 ?

If after

Are you sure she only has 25 full years ?

How much pension is she currently receiving per week ?

What date did she reach state retirement ?

Just noticed this

Call HMRC and was told that we can buy the missing years but it won't affect the pension that she is already receiving.

If you did call HMRC then they were the wrong people to speak to, they will have no knowledge of how purchasing years would affect the pension.  DWP, in particular the Pension Service, are the only ones that can advise on that.

https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service

Another thing that springs to mind is trying to top up beyond 6 years after reaching retirement - I am sure there has been something about this previously, not something that comes up very often.