Voluntary NI contributions

[WICAO]

On 17/10/2022 at 18:29, Bobthebuilder said:

HMRC have barely been functioning since the 2020 lockdown, they keep hitting me with tax bills way above my average earnings. Seems every couple of months they decide to hit me on the head with a hammer again, I am getting close to the point of quitting.

A month since I wrote my post that you referred to and I can confirm absolutely zero from HMRC.  Yes, they do appear broken...

[AWW]

I don't understand how they calculate a "full year".

I'm missing the 4 years I spent at university even though I made small NI contributions. However, I've got full years for the decade when I was a contractor and didn't make any NI contributions at all because I kept my salary below the threshold.

[With a crooked smile]

33 minutes ago, AWW said:

I don't understand how they calculate a "full year".

I'm missing the 4 years I spent at university even though I made small NI contributions. However, I've got full years for the decade when I was a contractor and didn't make any NI contributions at all because I kept my salary below the threshold.

Sounds a bit weird. @Frank Hovis I think reported he had some full years when he didn't expect to.

When I looked I had some full years when I was in full time education in the 90s. I'm not sure how that happened. 

[crashmonitor]

On 18/10/2022 at 20:26, Bilbo said:

It does some a bit unfair that class 2 ni is only  £3-15. If you need to top up and are not self employed it's £15.85 a week for Class 3!

My sister who bitches and complains she has to pay £3-15 as her husband is self employed and she is 'on the books'. But my wife who is missing a few years is going to have to pay £15.85.

God this country is well fk up.

Still a great investment if you are short. I paid 36 years from 1980 to 2016 continuous. Some of those years are slightly reduced through contracting out and I have 32 qualifying years. I will definitely be topping up the shortfall for around 2.5k at some stage, to get that up to 35 years.

Meanwhile the value of the State pension if you had to buy the whole damn thing would be around 350k on the open market based on annuity rates back in January. I guess it would be a bit cheaper now to buy the value of the benefit privately.

Wouldn't mind but most pensioners seem very ungrateful for such largesse. Not much for a lifetime of work is that old chestnut. £800  per month triple locked is generous in my book and will make a massive difference to my standard of living if I get there.

 

https://www.scottishwidows.co.uk/retirement/retirement-explained/taking/pension-options/guaranteed-income/index-linked-annuity/

[AWW]

Agree @crashmonitor I've just paid for two empty years. Nothing I can do about the four university years though, too late now. Surprised more isn't made of it when you graduate.

[ashestoashes]

10 minutes ago, AWW said:

Agree @crashmonitor I've just paid for two empty years. Nothing I can do about the four university years though, too late now. Surprised more isn't made of it when you graduate.

how do you pay, do you just ring them up ?

[SpectrumFX]

7 minutes ago, AWW said:

Agree @crashmonitor I've just paid for two empty years. Nothing I can do about the four university years though, too late now. Surprised more isn't made of it when you graduate.

You get three years credit for 16-18 if you're in education, so that softens the blow a bit

[AWW]

1 hour ago, ashestoashes said:

how do you pay, do you just ring them up ?

Yes. They'll give you a ref no to stick on a bank transfer.

[Frank Hovis]

6 hours ago, With a crooked smile said:

Sounds a bit weird. @Frank Hovis I think reported he had some full years when he didn't expect to.

When I looked I had some full years when I was in full time education in the 90s. I'm not sure how that happened. 

 

IIRC I was credited full contributions  for the first three years post 16 (A Levels and year one of degree) and that was the end of the freebies; I hadn't had any jobs.

I signed on a bit in the long vac so had very small amounts of contributions years two and three and it is too late to make them complete.

Later on I stopped work to do a two year postgrad dergee and had two incomplete years; HMRC wrote to ask me if I wanted to make them complete for something like £300 per year so I wrote them a cheque.

I now have only those two incomplete years from my first degree in my record so of 39 years since 16 I have 37 full years.

I was also surprised.

[roundhouse]

7 hours ago, ashestoashes said:

how do you pay, do you just ring them up ?

7 hours ago, AWW said:

Agree @crashmonitor I've just paid for two empty years. Nothing I can do about the four university years though, too late now. Surprised more isn't made of it when you graduate.

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

This website I think. Get a forecast done, which is a year by year listing of qualifying years and "short" years. Also tells how to top up.

I was surprised to see my 16+ and uni years counting in a forecast I got years ago, but even more surprised that a more recent forecast listed them as "short" or "no contributions".  I took that up with them and copied in my MP - they then re-instated them as valid years. So @AWW maybe you should look into why your uni years haven't counted? 
 

Edit - Think I got 3 free years too then later topped up the missing uni years. 

[One percent]

1 minute ago, roundhouse said:

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

This website I think. Get a forecast done, which is a year by year listing of qualifying years and "short" years. Also tells how to top up.

I was surprised to see my 16+ and uni years counting in a forecast I got years ago, but even more surprised that a more recent forecast listed them as "short" or "no contributions".  I took that up with them and copied in my MP - they then re-instated them as valid years. So @AWW maybe you should look into why your uni years haven't counted? 

It doesn’t give that level of detail. I’ve 42 years in but still not enough for a full pension. It doesn’t state anywhere which of those 42 years don’t count.  
 

cunts.  

[roundhouse]

1 minute ago, One percent said:

It doesn’t give that level of detail. I’ve 42 years in but still not enough for a full pension. It doesn’t state anywhere which of those 42 years don’t count.  
 

cunts.  

They post it to you, or did. I also have an HMRC gov gateway account and can see it all there I think. Def you can ask for the info.

[One percent]

1 minute ago, roundhouse said:

They post it to you, or did. I also have an HMRC gov gateway account and can see it all there I think. Def you can ask for the info.

Oh, i can see it online but given that 35 years is what’s needed for a full pension and i have 42, im at a loss to understand which years don’t count. It doesn’t show. 

[SpectrumFX]

52 minutes ago, One percent said:

Oh, i can see it online but given that 35 years is what’s needed for a full pension and i have 42, im at a loss to understand which years don’t count. It doesn’t show. 

It got a bit complicated with the change over of the terms when they moved to the new pension rules. People who'd contracted out of SERPS had a reduction applied to reflect the contracting out, which is probably where your money went.

You can check how much you're due and your NI record here www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

 

 

 

[One percent]

2 minutes ago, SpectrumFX said:

It got a bit complicated with the change over of the terms when they moved to the new pension rules. People who'd contracted out of SERPS had a reduction applied to reflect the contracting out, which is probably where your money went.

You can check how much you're due and your NI record here www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

 

 

 

Thanks. Yep, I’m 17 months short of a full pension.  I shall make it up at some point but no point now as, a) I might not make it to the finish line and, b) the cunts may move the goalposts once again.  
 

i don’t understand the thinking behind the serps thing as it only seems to applied to those in state occupational pensions, and i was always under the impression that serps was an additional add on so that those not in a private scheme could contribute to, then subsequently receive, more than the state pension. Ergo, paying a full stamp got you the standard state pension. 

 

Im suspecting we have been had once again. 

[Dave Bloke]

17 hours ago, SpectrumFX said:

It got a bit complicated with the change over of the terms when they moved to the new pension rules. People who'd contracted out of SERPS had a reduction applied to reflect the contracting out, which is probably where your money went.

You can check how much you're due and your NI record here www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

 

 

 

yes that, I need 39 years to get the full 10K and am nearly there despite being a spring chicken, or nearly