Contracted out but no effect on new state pension forecast?

molerat

b) is easy. No.  Retiring post April2016 with in excess of 35 pre 2016 years you cannot add to your pension.  You are receiving what you had earned under the pre 2016 pension rules.  The actual years that you were contracted out are irrelevant, it is just the total number that counts.

a) DWP will provide you with a breakdown on how your pension was calculated.  It will take many months for them to reply and it will be a long document.  If you don't have a head for numbers you won't understand it anyway, it is akin to rocket scientist maths !

handful

@molerat Sorry to also jump on this thread but I thought as it's a popular topic after MLs show last week I would just clarify something on my own situation. My Pension Forecast also states that I should get £221.20 a week and that I can't improve my forecast any more. It also states that I was contracted out  but this is where I'm a bit hazy because I can't remember and have no documents to confirm how long for. I believe it to be probably for aount 8 or 9 years from 1986-1995ish. Im not sure about the next job/pension that I had after that.

So, because I have full NI contributions showing on my record from 1978, I'm reading that as not being an issue because I had more than 30 years of work prior to 2016? Now, I also understand that if I retire after April 2025 I would also qualify for the higher state pension but I actually retired on 31st March last year. Does that mean I could potentially be one year short even though I have the declaration on my forecast that I cannot improve my forecast any more?

Many thanks for any comments of my understanding on this topic!

Dazed_and_C0nfused

handful said:

@molerat Sorry to also jump on this thread but I thought as it's a popular topic after MLs show last week I would just clarify something on my own situation. My Pension Forecast also states that I should get £221.20 a week and that I can't improve my forecast any more. It also states that I was contracted out  but this is where I'm a bit hazy because I can't remember and have no documents to confirm how long for. I believe it to be probably for aount 8 or 9 years from 1986-1995ish. Im not sure about the next job/pension that I had after that.

So, because I have full NI contributions showing on my record from 1978, I'm reading that as not being an issue because I had more than 30 years of work prior to 2016? Now, I also understand that if I retire after April 2025 I would also qualify for the higher state pension but I actually retired on 31st March last year. Does that mean I could potentially be one year short even though I have the declaration on my forecast that I cannot improve my forecast any more?

Many thanks for any comments of my understanding on this topic!

One year short of what?

If it would make you happy to have a complete set of qualifying years then I'm sure the Chancellor will appreciate you buying an extra year.

But it is no relevance whatsoever to your State Pension entitlement if the statement in bold is true.

handful

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

handful said:

@molerat Sorry to also jump on this thread but I thought as it's a popular topic after MLs show last week I would just clarify something on my own situation. My Pension Forecast also states that I should get £221.20 a week and that I can't improve my forecast any more. It also states that I was contracted out  but this is where I'm a bit hazy because I can't remember and have no documents to confirm how long for. I believe it to be probably for aount 8 or 9 years from 1986-1995ish. Im not sure about the next job/pension that I had after that.

So, because I have full NI contributions showing on my record from 1978, I'm reading that as not being an issue because I had more than 30 years of work prior to 2016? Now, I also understand that if I retire after April 2025 I would also qualify for the higher state pension but I actually retired on 31st March last year. Does that mean I could potentially be one year short even though I have the declaration on my forecast that I cannot improve my forecast any more?

Many thanks for any comments of my understanding on this topic!

One year short of what?

If it would make you happy to have a complete set of qualifying years then I'm sure the Chancellor will appreciate you buying an extra year.

But it is no relevance whatsoever to your State Pension entitlement if the statement in bold is true.

I was referring to the advice about the 9 years of contributions that are required from 2016. I retired last year so have only made 8 years of contributions since 2016. From what you are saying I don't need to worry though so thanks for that.

german_keeper

handful said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

handful said:

@molerat Sorry to also jump on this thread but I thought as it's a popular topic after MLs show last week I would just clarify something on my own situation. My Pension Forecast also states that I should get £221.20 a week and that I can't improve my forecast any more. It also states that I was contracted out  but this is where I'm a bit hazy because I can't remember and have no documents to confirm how long for. I believe it to be probably for aount 8 or 9 years from 1986-1995ish. Im not sure about the next job/pension that I had after that.

So, because I have full NI contributions showing on my record from 1978, I'm reading that as not being an issue because I had more than 30 years of work prior to 2016? Now, I also understand that if I retire after April 2025 I would also qualify for the higher state pension but I actually retired on 31st March last year. Does that mean I could potentially be one year short even though I have the declaration on my forecast that I cannot improve my forecast any more?

Many thanks for any comments of my understanding on this topic!

One year short of what?

If it would make you happy to have a complete set of qualifying years then I'm sure the Chancellor will appreciate you buying an extra year.

But it is no relevance whatsoever to your State Pension entitlement if the statement in bold is true.

I was referring to the advice about the 9 years of contributions that are required from 2016. I retired last year so have only made 8 years of contributions since 2016. From what you are saying I don't need to worry though so thanks for that.

I was contracted out throughout my working life, so I was always confused why I only needed 7 post 2016 years to hit the jackpot. But I found out via this forum that there was a period before 2016 when if you were contracted out and earned below a certain level you got some S2P. So presumably my starting point in 2016 was about a tenner or so higher than the basic state pension. Maybe that is why you only needed 8 years instead of 9.  

molerat

handful said:

I was referring to the advice about the 9 years of contributions that are required from 2016. I retired last year so have only made 8 years of contributions since 2016. From what you are saying I don't need to worry though so thanks for that.

It was not required those 9 years to get a full pension but would get a full pension if they had those 9 years, that was the worst case scenario.  With the absolute minimum 30 year pre 2016 amount the post 2016 contributions up to 24-25 would fill the gap.  The higher the starting amount the less post 2016 years would be needed.

handful

molerat said:

handful said:

I was referring to the advice about the 9 years of contributions that are required from 2016. I retired last year so have only made 8 years of contributions since 2016. From what you are saying I don't need to worry though so thanks for that.

It was not required those 9 years to get a full pension but would get a full pension if they had those 9 years, that was the worst case scenario.  With the absolute minimum 30 year pre 2016 amount the post 2016 contributions up to 24-25 would fill the gap.  The higher the starting amount the less post 2016 years would be needed.

Ok thanks all. Basically I have nothing to worry about if I'm understanding this correctly!