What questions are asked by HMRC regarding NIC history when ringing up to claim SP?

molerat

Post up the following info and we can give you a heads up as to what you need to do

Current weekly £££.pp amount accrued up to April 2023 or 2024, not all have been updated so please specify.
Number of full NI years 15-16 and earlier
Number of full NI years 16-17 and later
Tax year you reach state retirement
Any COPE amount.  If you have "You've been in a contracted-out pension scheme" on your forecast then click
here https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account/cope whilst logged into your tax account
Years which show not full and prices

MarcusHutch

Wow-you folks on here are so helpful!
Below is as of today, so assume it's April 2024.
Thank you!! 

molerat

Which answers point 4 and maybe, but only maybe, point 1.

There should be more below that box plus the rest of the info about your NI record.

MarcusHutch

molerat said:

Post up the following info and we can give you a heads up as to what you need to do

Current weekly £££.pp amount accrued up to April 2023 or 2024, not all have been updated so please specify.
Number of full NI years 15-16 and earlier
Number of full NI years 16-17 and later
Tax year you reach state retirement
Any COPE amount.  If you have "You've been in a contracted-out pension scheme" on your forecast then click
here https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account/cope whilst logged into your tax account
Years which show not full and prices

Hi again,
So to summarise:

• Current weekly £££.pp amount accrued up to April 2024 (maybe 2023 due to comment below - info not ready?) £173.89
• Number of full NI years 15-16 and earlier 21
• Number of full NI years 16-17 and later 0
  BUT letter from HMRC in Aril 2024 says I have 25 qualifying years of NICs up to 5.4.24?!
• Tax year you reach state retirement: 2024/25 in 10 days or so time!
• Any COPE amount: thanks so much for this! I had no idea where to find that. 
  

  Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE)

  Your COPE estimate is £13.61 a week

• Years which show not full and prices:
  

  2023 to 2024

  Your record for this year is not available yet
  
  
  2022 to 2023

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2029. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2021 to 2022

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £800.80 by 5 April 2028. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2020 to 2021

  Year is not full

  
  
  
  2019 to 2020

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2026. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2018 to 2019

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2017 to 2018

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2016 to 2017

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2015 to 2016

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2014 to 2015

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2013 to 2014

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2012 to 2013

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2011 to 2012

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2010 to 2011

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2009 to 2010

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2008 to 2009

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2007 to 2008

  Year is not full

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.
  2006 to 2007

  Year is not full

  
  

  
  

  Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2025. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.

• Pay a voluntary contribution of £795.60 by 5 April 2027. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2025.

MarcusHutch

molerat said:

Which answers point 4 and maybe, but only maybe, point 1.

There should be more below that box plus the rest of the info about your NI record.

Apologies. I was just compiling that info. Much appreciated

molerat

BUT letter from HMRC in Aril 2024 says I have 25 qualifying years of NICs up to 5.4.24?

At the very bottom of your NI record is there not a statement "You have x(4?) full years up to April yyyy" ?

Are there also not statements "Estimate based on your NI contributions up to 5 April 2023/24" and "You can improve your forecast ........ the most you can improve your forecast to is  £xxx.xx" ?

So on the information provided you need 8 more years to reach the full amount.  You could safely purchase up to 5 pre 2016 years but they only add  £5.65 each compared to £6.32 for a post 2016 year.  7 post 2016 years will take you to £218.13, the 8th adding the final £3.07. So your best option would be in order of importance / cost - 20-21, 21-22, then the 5 22-23 and 16-17 to 19-20 then if you want to go the whole hog one from pre 2016 as that will be cheaper than 23-24 (£907.40) and although it doesn't fully give as much as a post 2016 year it will still only add the necessary £3.07.

MarcusHutch

molerat said:

BUT letter from HMRC in Aril 2024 says I have 25 qualifying years of NICs up to 5.4.24?

At the very bottom of your NI record is there not a statement "You have x(4?) full years up to April yyyy" ?

Are there also not statements "Estimate based on your NI contributions up to 5 April 2023/24" and "You can improve your forecast ........ the most you can improve your forecast to is  £xxx.xx" ?

So on the information provided you need 8 more years to reach the full amount.  You could safely purchase up to 5 pre 2016 years but they only add  £5.65 each compared to £6.32 for a post 2016 year.  7 post 2016 years will take you to £218.13, the 8th adding the final £3.07. So your best option would be in order of importance / cost - 20-21, 21-22, then the 5 22-23 and 16-17 to 19-20 then if you want to go the whole hog one from pre 2016 as that will be cheaper than 23-24 (£907.40) and although it doesn't fully give as much as a post 2016 year it will still only add the necessary £3.07.

Hi 'Molerat', That's very kind of you.

I've found this summary. Any good?

"You have:

25 years of full contributions
3 years to contribute before 5 April 2024
22 years when you did not contribute enough"

I've found a 2022 forecast with the sort of figures you seek. Will see if I can find a more recent one!

MarcusHutch

Estimate to 5.4.22 £140.26/wk
Forecast if you contribute to 5.4.24 £150.84/wk
Most you can increase is to £185.15/wk
(2022 figs)

MarcusHutch

Found 5.4.23 figs:
£167.57/wk
£173.89/wk
£221.20/wk

molerat

As soon as I saw that 22 figure I worked out that £140.26 then is £167.57 now and you would reach £173.89, £6.32 more, with 23-24 contributions.  I think a lot of information is removed from the forecast once you get into the 4 month claiming window.

So to modify my earlier post

So on the information provided you need 9 more years to reach the full amount.  You could safely purchase up to 5 pre 2016 years but they only add  £5.65 each compared to £6.32 for a post 2016 year.  7 post 2016 years will take you to £211.81 plus 1 pre 2016 takes you to £217.46 with another adding the final £3.74. So your best option would be in order of value / cost - 20-21, 21-22, then the 5 22-23 and 16-17 to 19-20, 1 pre 2016 then if you want to go the whole hog another one from pre 2016 as that will be cheaper than 23-24 (£907.40) and although it doesn't fully give as much as a post 2016 year it will still only add the necessary £3.74.  If not going the whole way buying 23-24 instead of a pre 2016 year would give you an extra 67p for an additional £83.20 cost.