National insurance contributions

One of the problems is being contracted out and if I understand it correctly it saved the individual a small amount of money but it also saved the employer money.
 
in your screenscrape of the info, you didn't include the first part - how many years of full contributions and how many years more you need (if any).
To get the number of years of contributions, look at https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account/nirecord
To get the number of years still required, look at https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account
If you still have to add contribution years to get the full pension, add the two together and what does it add up to? 35? 39?
If you don't have to add any more years, how many FULL years of contributions do you have? under 39?

that will tell you what YOU need. that is the information YOU need. Get it from the horses mouth, not a forum.
 
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I have done that and as I say I can't see anywhere where this rise from 35 to 39 years is mentioned. Can you/anyone specifically point me to that please? NB The Governments own website specifically says 35 years:

"You’ll need 35 qualifying years to get the full new State Pension."





Fyi mine (off the link provided which is my Govt Gateway account) says...

You can get your State Pension on 20 January 2034. Your forecast is
£179.60 a week
£780.94 a month, £9,371.27 a year
Your forecast


  • is not a guarantee and is based on the current law
  • is based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2021
  • does not include any increase due to inflation

£179.60 is the most you can get

You cannot improve your forecast any more.

If you’re working you may still need to pay National Insurance contributions until 20 January 2034 as they fund other state benefits and the NHS.


Your forecast may be different if there are any changes to your National Insurance information. There is more about this in the terms and conditions.


You’ve been in a contracted-out pension scheme

Like most people, you were contracted out of part of the State Pension.

Years ago when we needed 49 years the GOV gave you 4 so only needed 45. Maybe that’s where the 35 to 39 years comes from.
 
in your screenscrape of the info, you didn't include the first part - how many years of full contributions and how many years more you need (if any).
To get the number of years of contributions, look at https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account/nirecord
To get the number of years still required, look at https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account
If you still have to add contribution years to get the full pension, add the two together and what does it add up to? 35? 39?
If you don't have to add any more years, how many FULL years of contributions do you have? under 39?

that will tell you what YOU need. that is the information YOU need. Get it from the horses mouth, not a forum.

Assuming you were replying to me...

- My screen copy showed EVERYTHING that was on the screen when I copied it. There was nothing else that came up. Nothing about how many years of full contributions or about how many years I need.

- The first link you posted took me to exactly the same page as I copied...again with no extra information.

- The second link also took me there but I clicked on NI record and the only info of relevance on there (aside from a list of years and contributions) is

  • 34 years of full contributions
  • 12 years to contribute before 5 April 2033
  • 5 years when you did not contribute enough
So again I have to ask. Where does it say 39 years?
 
So you have a full State Pension with 34 year of full contributions then. How come that is that case then?
 
I think the new number is 39 full years, up from the 35 previously.

The cost per year to top up varies, but I don't think it is at the level of £880 a year? Costs me around £200 or so (it may depend what class you are able to top up with I guess).

Just logged onto HMRC and I see:
  • 36 years of full contributions
And "Forecast [for full pension] if you contribute another 3 years" - so it is 39 years

So you have a full State Pension with 34 year of full contributions then. How come that is that case then?

Couldn't tell you but I would re-check yours as even the Government website says 35 years. As you say, the horses mouth rather than a forum!
 
Couldn't tell you but I would re-check yours as even the Government website says 35 years. As you say, the horses mouth rather than a forum!
I spent around 90 minutes on the phone to HMRC and NI earlier this week to check all MY details. I know as I got it from the horses mouth 🐴

I suggest you do likewise as better to check YOUR details if there is a mistake now rather than finding out when it is too late otherwise .... 🤡
 
I can only tell you what's on the Gateway account. I'm happy enough.

Considering you rely on people like me/us on here for your business you do come across as rather rude!
 
I think "exasperated" might be a better word, but entitled to your opinion of course (y)
 
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Every body is different. If you have been contracted out You need more than 35 years. I did.
Ring the number on the government website. I gave my basic details to the person I first spoke to, she made an appointment for me to speak to someone the following day with someone who had all my details in front of them.I was given a two hour time slot to receive the call The second person was very helpful and had a good knowledge.
 
I'm going to 'muddy the waters' just a little bit, this is something I've posted on previous pension threads.
When getting a estimate from .gov it states 'estimate', for some this is more of an estimate than you might think, if you have a more complex pension history the program that works out your pension cannot give a definitive answer and when it comes time to retire your pension will have to be manually calculated.
That's .gov IT systems for you, as an aside with one of our 'enterprises' we have to deal with DEFRA, every year I send in amended mapping, and every year their AI (artificial ignorance) program scans the aerial photos and gets it wrong. It seems to have MLD (machine leaning disabilities).
 
An associated aside ...
This thread prompted me to just check something I've been meaning to do for ages!

If you check your NI Record you might see something like this:

View attachment 96498

Which looks like you are missing years of contributions? But click on the details and you may see ...
View attachment 96499
So "Year is not full" may not actually mean that the year is not full, just they haven't done the maths yet.
I just checked my account for 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 and both years I have made the right amount of NI Class contributions as requested so those ARE Full years. A bit misleading if you are trying to work out how many more years you actually need as a minimum.
Checking mine yesterday it seems despite not working the last 7 years I am down as paid in full. I'm wondering what the hell that's all about.???? On my wife's it's accurate. Have they made a mistake if they have I ain't telling them.Lol.
I have 30 genuine years and where does that leave me? It all depends on your situation later In life if your going to be on benefits e.t.c then you will need just a basic pension as the cash would be taken away to pay towards benefits . Also if getting tax credits you can only have 10k in savings. For every £500 extra you will lose £1 a week in tax credits.
I have been looking up this subject so have not heard about paying over the 35 years. On the website it says you would be contributing towards the elderly pension system but you wouldn't gain anything after the 35 years. I know this is an old thread so will look at the earlier link.
 
Can anyone help?

I may have missed this in all the 'Govt-speak' on line but where can I find my starting amount and the number of qualifying years I need? I have got a Pension Forecast off my Govt Gateway account but it doesn't make it clear regarding the new rules. Also there is no mention of 39 years rather than 35 years.

I manually added up my years including and prior to 2016 as 30 year full years. I have another 4 years of full contributions since 2016. So is it a manual calculation that I need another 5 years to get to the 39 or is there somewhere official on-line I can check this...or do I need to ring the pensions helpline?

ta
As I understand it 30 years will give you the basic state pension . Depending on your situation will determine if it's worth forking out another 4k in contributions.
 
Im about to lift a lump sum and the barstewarts are taxing me on money i put in from my own earnings which i had already paid tax on, now im reading im to lose some of my working tax credits, the whole sys is a big con as far as i can see, given in one hand and taken by the other.
 
There’s a government pension advice line and believe it or not they’re very helpful!

I recently checked my contributions history and needed to top up two years. There were a number of years available for me to top up and the advice guy worked out which two years would be the most economical for me to pay up.
If you’ve still a good number of years to go, it might be worth becoming self employed, cheap contributions and you only have to show very minimal earnings.
Conversely, for someone who has already paid up enough years you can still have the burden of paying NI which won’t necessarily result in a higher pension. Again, it might be worth being self employed to keep excess NI contributions low for your remaining working life.

Lastly. If you defer taking your pension once you reach pensionable age, your future pension payments will increase by 5% for each year you don’t take your pensi

I agree with several other posters.The help line for pension contributions is very helpful and have the right knowledge.
Try getting through to those people at the moment it's madness😡
 
Im about to lift a lump sum and the barstewarts are taxing me on money i put in from my own earnings which i had already paid tax on, now im reading im to lose some of my working tax credits, the whole sys is a big con as far as i can see, given in one hand and taken by the other.
Absolutely mate which is why I say if your going to be claiming benefits as a pensioner all you will need is 30 years. Anything more will be stolen from your back pocket by the government. For us we will wait to see how we are financially nearer the time to see if it's worth our while paying for the extra years. We still have a while to go but I don't fancy lining the pockets of our vile disgusting government in the event they profit by me or my wife dying. In your situation they don't want you having over 10k or they will take credits away. Kind of makes you realise why the lazy stay lazy and are not interested in working. I'm all for leaving this country as I'm totally sick of the way this country is now being destroyed.
 
I had 40 years of contributions paid but still only got two thirds state pension and a 2 page letter explaining why which made no sense to me other than I think they were blaming me for retiring aged 59. Good job I had a decent private pension.
 

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