Do I need to pay for missing years? Waiting for call from HMRC

chacha7887

Hello everyone. 

I’ve Paid since 2001.

My age of retirement will be 2045.

Eligible 23 years SO FAR (excluding 2025)

5 Missing years I didn’t pay (2015-2020)

HMRC states in my online account that I Need to contribute 12 more years in the next 20 to get full state pension of £221.20 a week. 

Why is it stating that I need to pay 12 more if I am missing 5 from the 23 years I’ve been contributing, to make a total of 35? 

My forecast is £221.20 as it stands. 

And currently what I would get based on my record so far is £145. 

I need to contribute 35 years for a full state pension. 

HMRC state I need to only pay 12 more years to get the full qualifying 35 years. Why not another 17 years more for me to contribute, as I missed 5 years of payments? 

I’ve contributed 18 of the 23 years from 2001 to 2024. 

I was not getting any benefits for those 5 unemployed years I was in the country, so it’s not some type of credit. 

My thoughts are it’s because of the crossover in 2016 when the legislation changed from 30 years to 35 years. 

As it states that my forecast is £221.20 and that I have 12 more years to contribute, does that mean I don’t need to pay for the missing 5 years? 

Thank you for any advice or insights.

Please put in the correct section if needed. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

chacha7887 said:

Hello everyone. 

I’ve Paid since 2001.

My age of retirement will be 2045.

Eligible 23 years SO FAR (excluding 2025)

5 Missing years I didn’t pay (2015-2020)

HMRC states in my online account that I Need to contribute 12 more years in the next 20 to get full state pension of £221.20 a week. 

Why is it stating that I need to pay 12 more if I am missing 5 from the 23 years I’ve been contributing, to make a total of 35? 

My forecast is £221.20 as it stands. 

And currently what I would get based on my record so far is £145. 

I need to contribute 35 years for a full state pension. 

HMRC state I need to only pay 12 more years to get the full qualifying 35 years. Why not another 17 years more for me to contribute, as I missed 5 years of payments? 

I’ve contributed 18 of the 23 years from 2001 to 2024. 

I was not getting any benefits for those 5 unemployed years I was in the country, so it’s not some type of credit. 

My thoughts are it’s because of the crossover in 2016 when the legislation changed from 30 years to 35 years. 

As it states that my forecast is £221.20 and that I have 12 more years to contribute, does that mean I don’t need to pay for the missing 5 years? 

Thank you for any advice or insights.

Please put in the correct section if needed. 

Based on your figures you need to add 13 years.

Or is your £145 missing some useful pence?

As you are under transitional rules you take your starting amount and need to add extra years to reach £221.20.

Missing some years isn't an issue providing you add enough years to reach £221.20.

12 years could be correct but not if your £145 means £145.00.

QrizB

chacha7887 said:

Why is it stating that I need to pay 12 more if I am missing 5 from the 23 years I’ve been contributing, to make a total of 35?

It's saying you need 12 more years because you need 12 more years.

chacha7887 said:

I need to contribute 35 years for a full state pension.

Why do you think you need 35 years? That's not a given for anyone retiring before 2068.

chacha7887 said:

As it states that my forecast is £221.20 and that I have 12 more years to contribute, does that mean I don’t need to pay for the missing 5 years?

You're welcome to pay for the missing years, but unless you plan to stop work before 2033 there's no gain from doing so. As it is, if you work to 2045 you'll be paying NI for 8 years past the date you qualify for a full state pension anyway.

p00hsticks

chacha7887 said:

I need to contribute 35 years for a full state pension. 

If that's something that you've picked up from lazy journalism and not directly from your individual forecast, you are probably wrong. 

The '35 years for a full state pension' rule only applies to those born this centrury whose working lives therfore fall completely under the new scheme.  

Everyone who started their working lives prior to the introduction of the new State Pension in 2016 falls under transitional rules and the number of years they will need to get to the full amount (if they can) will depend on their individual records prior to 2016 - it can be anything from 29 to 50.

It sounds as if in your case it's 30 (18 already and 12 more needed), and if so it's probably because you were contracted in to SERPS/S2P prior to 2016 and so paid a higher rate of NI than those that weren't/ 

chacha7887

Thank you for replying and taking time to write your comments. I have some more questions: 

Recap:

In my government account it states:

If I didn’t contribute again, based on my record so far, £145 & something pence is what I’ll get.

My forecast is £221.20 

I need to contribute 12 more years before 1945 to get the full £221.20 forecasted. 

In the event that I don’t have to pay the missing payments to fill any gaps because of the contributions made before 2016 & need to pay 30 years and not 35:

I have become very sick recently, so living another 20 years seems like a fantasy, but I do believe in miracles which is why I am looking into all this.

This brings up questions for me that I don’t know if the HMRC advisor will be able to answer that maybe I need to consider before I run out of time and need to make fast decisions. 

If paying the missing 5 years, will this mean that I will only have to contribute 7 more years going forward? Or will it simply not change the amount of years still needed? 

I would have to borrow the money to pay the missing years. 

If it does bring the total down from 12 to 7 of what I still need to contribute,

Is it worth paying for this money when I will most likely be making NI contributions should I live for the next 12 years? & if alive till retirement age, paying 20 more years contributions (8 more years than would be required for a full pension). 

It will be over £4000 to pay now.

Also really important that I hope someone has the experience to answer. 

The economy and forecasts for the future don’t look good, there is a fair chance that legislation for pensions will change again, not only the retirement age being pushed back, but also the number of years for contributing etc. it’s a lot harder to add more contributions when you’re older if there are law changes and the goal posts are moved. 

I bring this up now in relation to the possibility that paying the missing five years could decrease the 12 years still needed to get the full amount. 

I am not good with numbers and finance so thank you for your perspectives, insights and advice. 

Maybe I will have more questions following more answers. Hopefully this is helpful to others in similar situations to read. 

Also one last question. 

If 35 years are not required. 

Why does my account say 23 years paid so far and another 12 needed (to total 35)

Goodness this is all so confusing. Please don’t hold back on schooling me and throwing lots of information/laws/facts at me, to help me understand better what I should do. 

The timing of this deadline is almost comically tragic in relation to my life right now.

Thank you 

molerat

Forget all about 30 or 35 years.  35 is coincidental because that is not how it is calculated for us under the transitional rules. If you have £145.pp then you need another £75.pp to reach that green box amount.  Each year gives you another £6.32, £75.pp / £6.32 = 12.  It doesn't matter where they come from, past or future.  Gaps don't matter, you have £145.pp, which if you do nothing further you will get when you reach retirement, it can't be taken away.  You have 20 years to get that 12 needed so plenty of slack, there is little point getting into debt when you can pay going forward.   In my opinion you should not buy those past years, they should only be bought if you really need them, if there is no other option or they are exceptionally cheap part years which doesn't seem to be the case here.

p00hsticks

chacha7887 said:

If paying the missing 5 years, will this mean that I will only have to contribute 7 more years going forward? 

Yes

chacha7887 said:

Is it worth paying for this money when I will most likely be making NI contributions should I live for the next 12 years? & if alive till retirement age, paying 20 more years contributions (8 more years than would be required for a full pension). 

If you intend to continue to work, or can get NI credits (e.g. through certain benefits such as ESA or Universal Credit) then paying all that money to fill in those gaps would be a complete waste. In my view you have plenty of time to get to the maximum amount going forward, so don't fork out any money now, especially as you say you would have to borrow it. Just keep an eye on your forecast from time to time, and if you are still not at the maximum as you approach State Pension Age consider what to do again then. 

No one can say what changes are likely to come along in the future, but it's almost certain that any changes to things like the number of years required will be advertised well in advance and things put in place to ensure that people are not disadvantaged (this current extension to pay years going back to 2006 is a direct consequence of legislation brought in nearly ten years ago!). 

chacha7887

Thank you everyone