How long did your missing year voluntary NIC payments take to be allocated?

kissanpoika

Around the start of August I made a payment for my wife to catch up some years for her UK state pension.

Since we currently live overseas, I checked in with HMRC about a week later to make sure they had received the payment. They confirmed they had it but said it can take up to 20 weeks to apply. This is the exact quote from the online chat:

"Our allocation process can take up to 20 weeks, so I would advise that you allow for our process time"

I was a touch confused as to why it would take so long and I've just had another look at their website here: https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance and there it says it should be 8 weeks.

Even though we were told by the Future Pension Centre it would make a difference, I won't trust it fully until I see it processed and applied to her account as mistakes do happen. I was just wondering how long it took for others for any shortfall payments to be allocated?

20 weeks seems an inordinate length. I was planning to pay back some of my missing years in a few months when I've saved enough, but if I have to wait 20 weeks for it to clear I then won't be sure everything is ok until after the 5 April 2025 deadline.

Hoenir

If there's a backlog of work then that's the time it will take to be done. Sudden inflows of requests on the back of a media programme or social media coverage. Cannot be suddenly absorbed. Resources will be allocated to priority matters first not ones where time ultimately makes no difference to the final outcome. 

eskbanker

kissanpoika said:

if I have to wait 20 weeks for it to clear I then won't be sure everything is ok until after the 5 April 2025 deadline

My assumption would be that payments for older years made by that date would be counted, rather than such payments having to be allocated by then, but worth checking....

double_dutchy

How did you pay?

My wife made an online payment, using the new system and the payment is already shown a week later

kissanpoika

double_dutchy said:

How did you pay?

My wife made an online payment, using the new system and the payment is already shown a week later

We made a bank transfer as instructed. It may be it's different because we're overseas as there was no mention of a new system in the instructions I received. Although happy to hear about the new online system to see if I could use it when I try to do mine in case we can use it. Where can I find it? Thank you.

kissanpoika

eskbanker said:

kissanpoika said:

if I have to wait 20 weeks for it to clear I then won't be sure everything is ok until after the 5 April 2025 deadline

My assumption would be that payments for older years made by that date would be counted, rather than such payments having to be allocated by then, but worth checking....

I would assume the same. My worry is more a case that if something is wrong it would then be too late to correct it.

Ayr_Rage

4 working days for me, details in my topic.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6550795/gobsmacked#latest

double_dutchy

kissanpoika said:

Although happy to hear about the new online system to see if I could use it when I try to do mine in case we can use it. Where can I find it? Thank you.

You can log in to your tax account via "government gateway", which gives you access to your tax account as expected but also state pension and national insurance. Under the national insurance section there's an option to "Check if you can pay for gaps online"

Account home - Personal tax account - GOV.UK

see this thread for more info:

Boosting your state pension should now be quicker and easier as new online tool launches - Page 7 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

kissanpoika

double_dutchy said:

kissanpoika said:

Although happy to hear about the new online system to see if I could use it when I try to do mine in case we can use it. Where can I find it? Thank you.

You can log in to your tax account via "government gateway", which gives you access to your tax account as expected but also state pension and national insurance. Under the national insurance section there's an option to "Check if you can pay for gaps online"

Account home - Personal tax account - GOV.UK

see this thread for more info:

Boosting your state pension should now be quicker and easier as new online tool launches - Page 7 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Thank you. Nothing is showing there, and I guess that's part of my concern since the numbers on the website are outdated. There they have her needing to pay £800+ per year but in the statement we got back in June after completing some paperwork confirmed most of the years only need a payment of around £160. I just hope the departments talk to each other and sort it all out correctly

StillNoIdea

I paid to complete some years' contributions by bank transfer on 6th October, having been given the bank details & 18(?) digit code by phone during the week before. The years were no longer in the "year is not full" list & my forecast had increased by Thursday 10th October.