Can anybody explain in layman's terns why I am not getting a full state pension?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884348#Comment_81884348

Ignore the first point, I think I'm a year out

molerat

seems to be very ill thought out and unfair.

But giving you the full new pension would have been unfair on those not contracted out that had paid the higher NI contributions. Those contracted out are generally considered winners under the transitional rules.

At April 2016 you were given the higher of your entitlement under the new or old rules calculations. If you were below the full new pension you could boost that post 2016. Someone born the same day as you who had already reached the full amount paying higher NI contributions could not add to that so could continue working and paying NI for no benefit whilst you would be adding to the pension.

Unfortunately it seems you took your eye off the ball with the introduction of new 2016 pension where you could have topped up your amount and in fact that option was open right up until April 2025.

dunstonh

seems to be very ill thought out and unfair.

You appear to be a winner under the new state pension. So, why do you think it is unfair?

By contracting out in the past, you either paid lower NI and got an occupational pension that made up the difference or you paid the same NI but had a rebate paid to an appropriate personal pension and therefore have/had a pot of money that you would not have got had you contracted in.

In either case, you would have got the Basic State pension only for those years. Yet you appear to want both the contracted out benefits AND the higher NSP. That would not be fair.

Silvertabby

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884348#Comment_81884348

Re the 2017/18 qualifying year -

Briefly, a woman born on the same day as OP would have reached her SPA at age 64 and some months, whereas his SPA was 65. Thus his Pension Credit age was 64+ (depending on his exact DOB), at which point he could have claimed pension credit (had he been eligible) plus non-means tested extras such as a bus pass and winter fuel allowance. The NI credit would have been automatic, which is why he didn't need to apply for it.

Okell

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884332#Comment_81884332

OK. Would it have been "not wrong" of me to have suggested to the OP that they weren't entitled to what they considered a "full" pension " because they had spent some time contracted out?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884466#Comment_81884466

Every day's a school day!

Silvertabby

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884470#Comment_81884470

This wasn't a State secret, yet seems to have gone over a lot of people's heads! Mr S retired at 60 and, because he is a bit older than than OP, he got 2016/17 and 2017/18 as credits.

Only a minority of men would have received these PC age credits - men who were accruing NI by working or by receiving certain means tested benefits didn't need them. But I do wonder how many didn't apply for bus passes or WFA because they weren't aware of this scheme, which kicked in from age 60 for men born before April 1950.

ADD. Before anyone asks, it ended in November 2018 when men and women's State pension ages equalised at 65.

jem16

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884338#Comment_81884338

Silvertabby gave you the correct answer about 2017/18 in the very first reply to you. It was an autocredit given to men.

https://www.gov.uk/automatic-pension-credits-for-men

2013/17 weren’t full because you were not working and not receiving credits.

jem16

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884480#Comment_81884480

Would Mr S not need to have been older than the OP to have got 2 years of autocredits as opposed to one?

Silvertabby

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884513#Comment_81884513

Oops - yes! His pension credit age was 63 and some months, so a year earlier than OPs. Senior moment!