Has UC removed my NI credits a year into my pension?

Noopin

As usual, hopes dashed.
Got a response from HMRC 3/12 and it dismissed my query in one sentence and referred me back to DWP.

All that can be deduced is that the issue is definitely around UC-related credits but, if that’s the case, why did DWP repeatedly deny any knowledge of it?  They kept saying that HMRC had provided new figures for them to re-calculate my pension.

HMRC also gave me another list of available voluntary contribution payments, which bears little resemblance to the one DWP had provided me with - the one that went back to ‘06/‘07.  It’ll now cost twice as much to make up the difference, and there’s a deadline of 25th Dec for the first £400, which I now feel compelled to pay.  On two occasions, DWP staff said that exceptions on time limits can be made where credits are removed; I suspect I took unwarranted comfort from that.

So, this time it’ll be a complaint to DWP; I’m also submitting a copy of the HMRC complaint to put them in the picture because the essential points are the same - timescale, explanation for removal, loss of opportunity to make good, the effort and anguish that I’ve spent etc.  There’s also - why are the NIC figures given by DWP not the same  as those given by HMRC, eg ‘20/‘21 will now cost me £370 more!

I can’t wait to learn what prompted the removal of UC-related credits in the first place and, since they only cover 4 consecutive years up to 2022, why they took until 2025 (after the extra window closed) to tell me.

Here we go again and there will be serious ructions if the response is less than complete.

Noopin

Season’s greetings to all, particularly those who’ve contributed some common-sense where it was needed.

My letter of complaint to DWP went on 6/12 and was accompanied by a copy of the HMRC complaint, which filled in the context and story so far.

As I suggested earlier, there seemed no point in not paying the 2018/19 contribution of £396.25, due by 25/12.  The figure accorded with both the DWP and HMRC contribution amount (and was the only year that did); so, I transferred it on 18/12.

I wondered whether final date for payment was about staff on leave from then until new year - so the payment is technically within 6 years.  Further, I ensured it was paid within the 31 days specified by HMRC.

Needless to say, the recent 18/19 contribution doesn’t appear in my online NI record anywhere; that particular year simply showing the original weeks (14 credited & 15 voluntary) and announcing that it’s now too late.  Keep in mind that any years with voluntary credits are the ones that I made up to full years at the start of all this.

As per the common-sense touched on, I realised late that the final day I could make contributions was end of each tax year, 6 years later.   But, I didn’t fully take account that all the amounts could rise on 25/12, which may have something to do with it.  I couldn’t afford to pay all the suggested years before Christmas, so I did the one that was likely to avoid the most damage.

In the online NI record, the wording against eg. 2020/21 summary says - “Pay a voluntary contribution of £xxx by 5 April 2027.  This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2026.”  And similar for later years, following the six-year rule.  Clearly, I wasn’t paying attention and defaulted to those dates for increases.  Increases seem to have been made to all outstanding years at the end of 2025, and more are promised for every year on 5 April, this year.

As it turns out, the remaining “available” years are only 14% higher than the ones in the HMRC letter; but, since my £396.25 can’t be shown to have gone anywhere useful, I don’t know what figures to trust; and I can’t rely on any further payments going where I want them.

Of course, if I’d been alerted to what was about to happen with these elusive credits, in good time, ie. not 20 months into my retirement, none of this would have happened.  Even a year’s notice would have done.

As for 2022/23, I have 52 weeks of credits (presumably from DWP) but, frankly, I was doing the same self-employment, with up and down earnings, during that year as most of the others.   Dunno where those credits came from…and when is year 2023/2024 going to put in an appearance?

Nothing in this farrago seems to make sense or follow logic.  Are they simply overwhelmed with problems, complaints and general confusion?  Is it generic call handlers who don’t understand the business and processes of their employers?  

They sure as hell don’t appreciate the sort of effect this can have on some people entering retirement.

I’ll give them another 10 days or so for a written response and, if I can’t make headway on the phone, (imagine trying to explain this from scratch to a call-handler), this is being escalated to - well, I’ve 10 days to find out.

If you have, thanks for persevering.

LHW99

Good luck @Noopin, hope you get it sorted before next Christmas

Noopin

An interesting point, that I hadn’t noticed, because I wasn’t waiting - on the online NI record page, there’s a big notice, as follows:

If you’re waiting for a callback, you do not need to contact us again. You can pay for gaps dating back to 2006 when we call you, even if it is after the 5 April deadline.

In other words, they’ve been so overwhelmed with enquiries from a year ago, that the window is still open for those awaiting a callback.  Thus, it’s no wonder they took 18 months to alter my pension and tell me about it, as well as confusing how many years I could go back.

There must be a fair number of recent retirees in that group, who have started their pensions on much reduced rates and who would’ve expected their contributions to be sorted out by now.

I’m not in their ranks but my problem is still one caused by DWP’s backlog and my escalated complaint is ready to go in a couple of days.

Noopin

I might as well update as things go along…if anyone’s still interested.

I’ve just phoned HMRC, to enquire why there are 10 years entirely missing from my partner’s NI record.  The call-handler asked if I knew her NI payments for those years (between 1992 and 2023) which, of course, I didn’t, and I explained why it was important that they tell us.

Furthermore, he insisted that we could go back to 2006, to which I carefully explained that I understood otherwise and I gave the details and deadlines.

He checked with someone else and, guess what, “oh, I’m sorry, you were right about the dates”.  

I couldn’t be bothered to say more than - oh, that’s a shame.

Meanwhile, partner’s missing tax years had appeared in the record, every one of them with a full year’s credits (good) but a bunch of other years now showing as not full (not good).  These are mostly pre-2019, so we can’t see details.  So much so, that now she can no longer get beyond £200pw pension, even paying £900 NI for the next 8 years.

I’m reaching my wits’ end with this - she’ll be paying £900 every year, out of her PIP and my pension; whereas up until this phone call, and the figures all shaking out, we expected her to reach full pension.  Presumably, they’ve done to her NI credits exactly what they did to mine, except we’ve no way of knowing.

I thought that she’d be credited NI because we were on UC and she was unfit to work.  Evidently not.  And with HMRC in chaos at the moment, it’ll be another long slog to sort out this one.

GunJack

Comedy of errors and misinformation springs to mind....

Noopin

When I have to explain (again) to their call-handler that the 19-year option ended 10 months ago I can do little more than shake my head ruefully.
Oh well, my escalated complaint to DWP was delivered this morning, we’ll see what that brings (probably pointing fingers back to HMRC).