State pension amount

6826amanda

My full state pension, due in December, is about 50p a month short. Is it worth topping up and how do I go about it? I am able to claim for adult childcare credits, but my last claim will only be for 5 months. Am I right in thinking that my claim has to be for a full year?

jem16

6826amanda said:

My full state pension, due in December, is about 50p a month short. Is it worth topping up and how do I go about it? I am able to claim for adult childcare credits, but my last claim will only be for 5 months. Am I right in thinking that my claim has to be for a full year?

You can claim for 5 months but it still wouldn’t give you a full qualifying year unless you paid for the rest of the weeks. 

For 50p every 4 weeks it’s not worth topping up as it will take you around 140 years to break even on your outlay. 

LHW99

If it were possible for you to defer taking it until February (9 weeks deferral is the minimum to ensure a payment) you could increase the amount by ~1%  - around £2 per week I think

https://www.gov.uk/deferring-state-pension/what-you-get

You would lose those 9 weeks of payments (just over £2k) to do it though, so you would need to live just under 20 years to break even. That's not allowing for inflation increases that may bring it down to maybe 15-17 years.

Only you could decide if that's worth it.

feynman33

Are everyones personal calculations/required number of years correctly accounted for in your pension forecast page on the https://www.tax.service.gov.uk site?

It says i have 28 full years and will qualify for the full pension of 230.25 with 7 more years. I was born in 1978 and never paid into a pension before 2016 so was never contracted out. Does this sound correct?

Thanks!

jem16

feynman33 said:

Are everyones personal calculations/required number of years correctly accounted for in your pension forecast page on the https://www.tax.service.gov.uk site?

It says i have 28 full years and will qualify for the full pension of 230.25 with 7 more years. I was born in 1978 and never paid into a pension before 2016 so was never contracted out. Does this sound correct?

Thanks!

Yes your forecast will correctly account for your own circumstances. 

It all sounds correct but to be sure what does it say in the lines underneath the big green box at the top?

molerat

feynman33 said:

Are everyones personal calculations/required number of years correctly accounted for in your pension forecast page on the https://www.tax.service.gov.uk site?

It says i have 28 full years and will qualify for the full pension of 230.25 with 7 more years. I was born in 1978 and never paid into a pension before 2016 so was never contracted out. Does this sound correct?

Thanks!

For the vast majority it is correct but as with everything there is room for error.  Born in 1978 you have scope to currently have 31 years, only you will know if 28 looks correct.  35 total years is a possible number but that final 35th year could add anything from 1p to £6.58 per week depending on your personal circumstances.  But with 20+ years left to get the required 7 there is no real point losing any sleep over any very small possible error.

feynman33

jem16 said:

Yes your forecast will correctly account for your own circumstances. 

It all sounds correct but to be sure what does it say in the lines underneath the big green box at the top?

Thanks, it says:

Your forecast

• is not a guarantee and is based on the current law
• does not include any increase due to inflation

You need to continue to contribute National Insurance to reach your forecast

Estimate based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2025

£188.65 a week

Forecast if you contribute another 7 years before 5 April 2046

£230.25 a week

£230.25 is the most you can get

feynman33

molerat said:

For the vast majority it is correct but as with everything there is room for error.  Born in 1978 you have scope to currently have 31 years, only you will know if 28 looks correct.  35 total years is a possible number but that final 35th year could add anything from 1p to £6.58 per week depending on your personal circumstances.  But with 20+ years left to get the required 7 there is no real point losing any sleep over any very small possible error.

Thanks, it was talk of 35 not applying to someone my age that gave me pause, and that a number of the early counted years are made up of credits not paid employment. If the page is generally correct i'm happy and not sweating what i still need to make up.

molerat

Your current £188.65 means you need £41.60 to reach the full pension equivalent to 6.3 years so as only full years count you need 7 with the final year adding £2.13.  This means your 2016 starting amount was based on the old rules with some additional state pension making it slightly higher than the new pension amount.

Silvertabby

At the moment, people need anything between 28 and 50 years of NI contributions to qualify for the full new single tier pension.

This span includes the number 35, so some will hit the mark with this number of NI contributions.