Topping up NI contributions if the Government are going to means test State Pensions

CAMEMBEAR1

Given the rumours around the Government possibly moving to means testing for the UK State Pension, is it still advisable to pay for missing years of NI contributions to boost my State Pension?

Silvertabby

Classing the State pension as taxable income is already a form of means testing.  I have always repaid 20% of my pension in the form of tax but, no, I'm not complaining.  I'd much rather be in this situation than have a total income below £12,570.

Personally, I can't see it happening.  Apart from it being the death knell for any party that introduced it, it would have to be rolled in with such a long notice period many of those affected would just opt out of paying into a private/occupational pension thus purposely leaving themselves reliant on means tested benefit.  

And everyone affected would have to be personally handed a letter detailing the change, in return for their signed declaration confirming that they had read and understood the contents.  (Kevlar helmet at the ready....) 

Sarahspangles

Silvertabby said:

And everyone affected would have to be personally handed a letter detailing the change, in return for their signed declaration confirming that they had read and understood the contents.  (Kevlar helmet at the ready....) 

OH just had a letter telling him he will get his Pension in three-and-a-half years. He was quite grumpy about being reminded!

Grumpy_chap

CAMEMBEAR1 said:

Given the rumours around the Government possibly moving to means testing for the UK State Pension, is it still advisable to pay for missing years of NI contributions to boost my State Pension?

It is difficult to comment without being political.  

There is no political party to the best of my knowledge that proposes means testing SP.

Changes would be very difficult to introduce and probably require a very significant lead-in time.  Look at the difficulty of changing the WFP, which is a relatively small sum by most measures.  Change SP to means tested would have all the difficulty of changing WFP magnified by many orders of magnitude.

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

Probably best to stop reading certain newspapers and relax.  . No such changes are planned and would be very difficult to administer and enforce.