Pulaski

35 years of contributions for a "full" pension, so if you have paid in for 20 years you'll get 20/35 of a full pension.

If you were contracted out of SERPS for any time, those years count for less.

Edo

Thanks for the clarification.

Fortunately I was too young to work when SERPS was replaced so that part doesn't apply to me

Paul_Shepherd

[QUOTE=Pulaski;12424729]Once you retire. Up to then you can make additional contributions.

Under certain circumstances payments can be made than go back more than the usual six years of arrears. This happened when they bumped up the requirement from 30 to 35 years to get a full pension. If you had been already contributing in recent years, but we're short of years people were allowed to buy additional years going further back than six years.


OK, so I contributed for around 21 years before I left the UK, and the last time I contributed is coming up to 9 years ago (would that be an issue now its gone past the 6 year mark)

So.... if I understand this correctly I would need to contribute 14 more years to bump it up the a full pension? and I would have up until the age of 67 (I think that is UK state retirement for men now) to contribute those 14 years worth of contributions? (Im 47 now)

Pulaski

Yes, that would be my understanding of your situation.

Paul_Shepherd

Ok thanks Pulaski, its good to know, I was contracted out of SERPS for a while, but I cant remember for how long now, that will effect things somewhat.

I was also a bit worried that I wouldnt be able to make any contributions because I had gone past the 6 year mark, but that seems to have changed now?

Pulaski

The six year rule limits how far in arrears you can pay for specific years, but so long as you have at least, IIRC, three years of contributions, and haven't yet reached retirement age, you can make contributions for the current and six most recent years.

So if you paid in for 1985/86, 86/87, & 87/88, then left the UK, and 30 years later, and now aged 52, you decide to start making contributions again, you could, as of January 2018, contribute for 2011/12-2016/17, the current year 2017/18, and then 15 more years until you reach 67, unless the retirement age has been raised again by then. So you would have (3+6+1+15)/35 of a full pension, being 25/35, despite having neglected to make payments for 30 years!

Paul_Shepherd

Right Ok....think I've got you now... so I could pay for my last 6 years of the 14 remaining I need to make a full pension and I still have another 20 years (im 47 now) to make the other 8 years of payments!

So SERPS complications aside, I should be able to make a full pension.

Thanks for explaining that Pulaski.

Pulaski

You're very welcome!

Snowy560

Pulaski, I have 34 years contributions. I had a few conversations with DWP and worked out I need to pay in for about 4 more years to get 35 years and a full pension. I was contracted out for a few years.

Anyway why I cannot work out is how to start paying the extra. I rang someone from HMRC (I think as directed by DWP) but they couldn't give me the right info. So I gave up and it just stayed on my "to do" list. How do I go about registering to pay the contributions I need?

Thank you!

Phaedru5

Google search for HMRC Form CF83 and that should put you on the right track - I download a document (approx 40 pages and it has that form at the end (2 pages) to sign up fro voluntary contributions.

glendem4

Use this link to get the form
https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...NI38_12_17.pdf

Pulaski

You need the DWP international desk in Newcastle. I did it old-school with a phone call and mailed forms, but that was about four years ago. The first step was to get approved for Class 2 contributions.

Snowy560

Thank you all. I'd better get on to it after putting it off for so long!

Cyan

Great post and thread. After leaving university I worked from 1989 to 2000 in the UK, and then moved to Canada in 2000. Did not have a private pension but paid NI contributions during UK employment. Can I top up NI contributions for years 2000 to present day for the time I've been in Canada?

I had a quick scan of the PDF. Looks like they prefer a UK bank account to do direct debits of any top-up payments. Did not explicitly say anything about one-off credit card payments, but they do talk about "paying direct".

Pulaski

Your situation is similar to the example I described in post #21 above. ..... As of today you can pay the last six years in arrears (meaning back to 2011/12), plus, if you get your skates on (pay before the end of March 2018), the current year of 2017/18. If you don't get the payment in before the end of March (maybe April 5? ) then 2011/12 will slip through your fingers.

It is likely that you will have a permanent ten year gap in your contribution record from 2001-2010.