Voluntary NI Contributions - Eligibility Question (Moved to UK in 2018)

babetak

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to understand my options for topping up my National Insurance contributions and would appreciate any advice.

I moved to the UK in March 2018 and started working in May 2018, remaining in the same job since. I've already made one voluntary contribution, which I believe covered the 2017-2018 tax year. When I initially contacted HMRC, they advised I wasn't eligible to pay for years before I moved to the UK.

I became a UK citizen in September 2024. The UK State Pension will be my only pension, as I haven't accrued sufficient qualifying years in any other country.

My question is: Given my circumstances, is it possible for me to make voluntary NI contributions for any of the tax years between 2006 and 2016? Any insights or guidance on how to approach this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

QrizB

How old are you now?

Have you checked your state pension forecast? What does it say?

pinnks

You cannot pay NI for any year before the year in which your NI number was allocated.

You say you won't get a pension from any other country.  That may not be correct if that other country is in the EU/EEA or one of the other countries with which the UK has a social security agreement, e.g. USA.  In such cases, your UK record may enable you to meet any minimum period etc requirements in the other country, thus allowing you to qualify for a pension there.

babetak

50 years old. 

My State Pension summary says: 

You currently have 7 years on your record and you need at least 10 years to get any State Pension.



This is what it shows when I click on VIEW PAYABLE GAPS: 

babetak

It says I cannot pay on-line and they told me previously on the phone I can't pay due to not living here prior to 2018 but they didn't seem like they knew.

babetak

pinnks said:

You cannot pay NI for any year before the year in which your NI number was allocated.

You say you won't get a pension from any other country.  That may not be correct if that other country is in the EU/EEA or one of the other countries with which the UK has a social security agreement, e.g. USA.  In such cases, your UK record may enable you to meet any minimum period etc requirements in the other country, thus allowing you to qualify for a pension there.

I worked in the US for 12 years and in an EU country for a total of about 6 years. I plan to reach the minimum 10 years in the UK. How would you advise for me to proceed? Thank you. 

molerat

It interestingly seems to have backdated the payable gaps 10 years from when arriving in UK - hence the missing 2006-07 - so I suspect that is just a quirk in the computer, I believe they will be correct in stating you cannot pay for those years but you can only ask again.  Where were you resident prior to coming to UK and what were you doing - employed ?

With 7 years you will have accrued £44.24 and with another 17-18 ahead of you (depending on the tax year you reach retirement) there is scope for a final £151.68 to £158.00.

babetak

molerat said:

It interestingly seems to have backdated the payable gaps 10 years from when arriving in UK - hence the missing 2006-07 - so I suspect that is just a quirk in the computer, I believe they will be correct in stating you cannot pay for those years but you can only ask again.  Where were you resident prior to coming to UK and what were you doing - employed ?

With 7 years you will have accrued £44.24 and with another 17-18 ahead of you (depending on the tax year you reach retirement) there is scope for a final £151.68 to £158.00.

I was a resident in an EU country. I only worked there for a total of 6 years though and their requirement for state pension is minimum of 35 or 38 years! I worked in the US for 12 years prior to that. 

pinnks

I agree with molerat about there being a glitch in the system as I have seen numerous posts from HMRC confirming that you cannot pay NI for years before you were allocated a NI number on arrival in the UK.

As you will have more than 10 UK years by the time you reach pension age, you will simply get a UK pension based on those years.

Given that you have EU and UK years, I am not sure how the US will calculate your pension.  The social security agreement with the UK works in the same way as the EU rules on aggregation and I think there is an agreement between either the EU and the US, or perhaps individual countries and the US.  Germany certainly operates a form of aggregation with the US. 

Similarly with the EU country.  The UK years will be used in aggregation but I am not sure how the US years will feed in.

I would suggest contacting the pension authorities in the EU country and the US and ask them how they will calculate your pension given that you have UK, EU and US periods.
 

QrizB

I think OP will get 24 UK years if they continue to accrue them until SPA, which will be a pension of about £150 pw at current rates?

Bostonerimus1

You can use the US years to qualify for UK state pension, but the amount of the pension will be calculated on your years of UK NI contributions, but it sounds as if you'll end up working long enough in the UK for that to be unnecessary. You need 10 years of US FICA payments to qualify for US Social Security so you should get that.