Topping up State Pension while living abroad

MaxB93

My retirement date is in 2026 and I have been travelling and living abroad since 2006. During that time I have not been working, although I remain registered for tax in the UK and occasionally pay it on bank interest.

My online pension statement says I have 18 payable gaps totalling £14,866.

My current basic state pension forecast is £109 pw. I understand the maximum is £221.

I'm preparing to (attempt to) call the Future Pension Centre from outside the UK. My questions are to what extent would it be worth my 'filling in the gaps' ? and can I do it online ?

I note that I was contracted out and that my COPE estimate is £17.32 a week.

I'm betting on living another 5 years, perhaps more.

Without overburdening them with unnecessary information, what should I ask the FPC ?

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

p00hsticks

Fillign which of those gaps would increase your state pension and by how much - in particular, those pre-2016 years. 

If you post up how many full NI years you currently have before 2016-17 and how many (if any) after people on here should be able to answer that for you. 

pinnks

The process is to send form CF83 to HMRC to determine the years that can be paid (no issue there) and at which class of NI (also no issue as you have not been working abroad from what you say, so class 2 would not be an option).  But either way, HMRC will say they want said form and as long as they have it by 5 April at the absolute latest, your position in terms of which years remain open for payment and the cost, is protected.

Separately you could contact FPC but as p00sticks says, folk on here can give you a heads up on that too.   

molerat

Current weekly £££.pp amount accrued up to April 2024 (or 2023 as some may not have been updated so please specify if so).
Number of full NI years 15-16 and earlier
Number of full NI years 16-17 and later
Tax year you reach state retirement

Years which show not full and prices

With around £109 current amount you are going to need another 18 years (approx without full details) to reach the full pension.  The capital expenditure will be recovered gross in around 3 years so it is definitely a win but a big gamble on living long enough to collect.  That said both myself and MrsM are now well in profit from our class 3s.

MaxB93

Many thanks for the replies.

My NI record shows from 1978-1979 up until 2005-2006 'Year is not full' and 'It’s too late to pay for this year. You can usually only pay for the last 6 years'.

For the years 2007-2008 up until and including 2023-2024 also 'Year is not full' and the price to fill each gap year is £824.20 with three minor exceptions

I reach retirement age in January 2026.

Please advise if more detail would help.

I have printed form CF83. Completing it will be a challenge. For example, I am living in Cambodia and there is no secure way of receiving mail. Delivery is not made to postal addresses here. Should I give them a proxy address in the UK ?

I understand that as I am living abroad I cannot either submit the form or make any payment online. I see (box 32):

'I wish to pay by Direct Debit – you cannot pay by Direct Debit for gaps in your National Insurance record for previous
tax years'. The alternative 'Sterling Cheque' makes me smile.

Specifically to pinnks, if I understand you correctly there is no need for me to try to contact FPC ?

molerat

You have not stated how many full pre 2016 years you have but it cannot be more than 19 which means you are safe to add all the available pre 2016 years and that is borne out by your forecast stating you can reach the full amount. There is something wrong with your narrative as you state you have nothing from 1978-79 which is when you were 18 !

You need all the available 19 years to reach the full amount. That is because the available 9 post 2016 years (including 24-25 at £907.40) takes you to £166.45 at £6.32 each leaving £54.80 which needs all the 10 pre 2016 years at £5.65 each, 9 taking you to £217.30 with the 10th adding the final £3.90.

I will leave the contact and payment side to others for comment as it is outside my knowledge.

p00hsticks

MaxB93 said:

Specifically to pinnks, if I understand you correctly there is no need for me to try to contact FPC ?

I'm not pinnks, but as they were backing up my comment, I'll answer. 

No there is no need to get in touch with FPC as they'll only tell you the same as molerat has above.
The people on these boards have been answering these sort of questions for many years now and are as well (if not better) informed on the subject as the people on the end of the FPC phone lines. 

If you speak to HMRC then they'll probably ask if you've spoken to FPC to ensure that you are not paying for years that won't have any effect on your state pension amount, but in your case that's not relevant. 

MaxB93

molerat said:

You have not stated how many full pre 2016 years you have but it cannot be more than 19 which means you are safe to add all the available pre 2016 years and that is borne out by your forecast stating you can reach the full amount. There is something wrong with your narrative as you state you have nothing from 1978-79 which is when you were 18 !

You need all the available 19 years to reach the full amount. That is because the available 9 post 2016 years (including 24-25 at £907.40) takes you to £166.45 at £6.32 each leaving £54.80 which needs all the 10 pre 2016 years at £5.65 each, 9 taking you to £217.30 with the 10th adding the final £3.90.

I will leave the contact and payment side to others for comment as it is outside my knowledge.

Thanks again for your reply.

My NI record says that 'Year is not full' for every year from 1978-79 up until and including 2023-24. So I have zero 'full pre 2016 years' unless I am misunderstanding something.

All I know about 1978-79 is as above so I don't follow your comment 'There is something wrong with your narrative as you state you have nothing from 1978-79 which is when you were 18 !'.

If I understand your conclusion it is that in order to maximise my pension I will have to pay the approximately £14,866 for the 18 payable gaps listed on my NI record plus one more for 2024-25.

I realise my situation is slightly unusual. I had a very short working life and 'retired' quite early, not something I have ever regretted doing. Much of my remuneration was in the form of share dividends from my company on which NI was not chargeable, which might explain some of the lacunae in my record. 

I will proceed with form CF83 and make the payment if Revenue & Customs are not too obstructive.

MaxB93

p00hsticks said:

MaxB93 said:

Specifically to pinnks, if I understand you correctly there is no need for me to try to contact FPC ?

I'm not pinnks, but as they were backing up my comment, I'll answer. 

No there is no need to get in touch with FPC as they'll only tell you the same as molerat has above.
The people on these boards have been answering these sort of questions for many years now and are as well (if not better) informed on the subject as the people on the end of the FPC phone lines. 

If you speak to HMRC then they'll probably ask if you've spoken to FPC to ensure that you are not paying for years that won't have any effect on your state pension amount, but in your case that's not relevant. 

Thanks p00hsticks. Following what molerat has written I will attempt to deal with HMRC. And I am sure that many here on this forum are better informed and more competent than those on the official end.

molerat

You are looking purely at gaps rather than your whole record.  I can see now there's some years not showing in your gaps record so they must be full . That's what was confusing.

So missing from your gaps list is 81-82-83, 85-86-87-88-89-90-91-92-93-94-95-96, 99-00, 02-03 plus 3 for age 16, 17 & 18 so 18 full easily accounted for.

MaxB93

molerat said:

You are looking purely at gaps rather than your whole record.  I can see now there's some years not showing in your gaps record so they must be full . That's what was confusing.

So missing from your gaps list is 81-82-83, 85-86-87-88-89-90-91-92-93-94-95-96, 99-00, 02-03 plus 3 for age 16, 17 & 18 so 18 full easily accounted for.

Apologies for that. The complete list of years prior to 2006 looks like this:

Of which I count 17 full years. I made no contributions in the years after 2006, of which they are allowing me to pay for 18.

I think I have got it straight in my head now so once again many thanks.