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Mwat

Hello, last year my wife paid 4 years of national insurance gaps, she retires July 2026, this amounted to a few thousand pounds, now looking at her gaps for the years between 1981 and 1989, when she was looking after her children, it’s saying that the years are not full.
we have completed an enquiry form online and HMRC have received it and are looking into it.
My question is, if HMRC admit that national insurance payments should have been credited to her, we needn’t have paid thousands to fill the gaps as there shouldn’t have been any gaps to start with.
Hope I’ve explained myself and thanks in advance 
cheers

Mwat

Should have Added.

if the above is the case, does anybody know if HMRC would refund our payment for the gaps.
Ta

Marcon

Sidetracking slightly (apologies), had she by any chance been paying the married women's reduced rate of NI (commonly known as the 'small stamp') immediately before she took time out to look after her children?

Mwat

Marcon
No, she was paying full NI

QrizB

Mwat said:

Hello, last year my wife paid 4 years of national insurance gaps, she retires July 2026, this amounted to a few thousand pounds, now looking at her gaps for the years between 1981 and 1989, when she was looking after her children, it’s saying that the years are not full.

What exactly did her state pension forecast say before you bought those four years? Which years did you buy? What does it say now?

Mwat said:

My question is, if HMRC admit that national insurance payments should have been credited to her, we needn’t have paid thousands to fill the gaps as there shouldn’t have been any gaps to start with.

Its's not as simple as that. It's possible that filling those years wouldn't have increased her forecast. The details are important.

Mwat

QrizB 
If I can remember correctly 
it said there would be a shortfall and it showed the amount she would receive in pension income.
After we paid for extra years it is now showing almost the full pension ( Just £1.70 less than the maximum)
Hope this helps

QrizB

If your wife will receive her pension next year, she was born in 1960? If so she'll have begun accruing NI at age 16 in 1976 and had potentially 40 years from then until 2016 (when the new SP was introduced).

Her "starting amount" pension entitlement in 2016 will have made use of at least 30, and potentially 35, years of pre-2016 NI. So she can have missed at least 5, and possibly 10, of those pre-2016 years without missing out on new SP.

Adding the eight years from 1981-89 might not change anything.

Which extra years did you buy? We're they all post-2016?

Do you have a record of exactly what her pension entitlement was before you bought those years, including any COPE figure?

QrizB

Our SP maestro is molerat.

This thread is a good example where molerat explains the ins and outs:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6449636/getting-full-state-pension-by-buying-years/p1

Mwat

2015-16
16-17
17-18
20-21
21-22.       ( 5 years in total , not 4 )
original amount per week was £188.61, by paying the above it moved to £219.54 ( as of May 2024)
thanks

p00hsticks

Mwat said:

2015-16
16-17
17-18
20-21
21-22.       ( 5 years in total , not 4 )
original amount per week was £188.61, by paying the above it moved to £219.54 ( as of May 2024)
thanks

How many full years did she have prior to 16-17 ?
As QrizB says above, it's possible / likely that she already had more than enough pre-2016 years and so needed the additional post-2016 ones to actually increase the amount further. 

DRS1

p00hsticks said:

Mwat said:

2015-16
16-17
17-18
20-21
21-22.       ( 5 years in total , not 4 )
original amount per week was £188.61, by paying the above it moved to £219.54 ( as of May 2024)
thanks

How many full years did she have prior to 16-17 ?
As QrizB says above, it's possible / likely that she already had more than enough pre-2016 years and so needed the additional post-2016 ones to actually increase the amount further. 

Did she talk to someone at DWP before buying those years?  If she did not need pre 2016 years would they have allowed her to buy one?