Perth

Right behind you with 7 years

Perth

Hard to say exactly. Do you have your NI number? If so, go ahead and ask for your pension statement. Fill it out online and then print it out and mail.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/pdfs/state-...nteractive.pdf

After they send it to you fill out another form and they'll tell you what to pay.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/nico/ni38.pdf

(The actual form is at the end of all long series of explanatory pages.)

fulwood

yeah i looked at form cf83 and it appears they want me to remember every employer and their address? I've been in US 29 years and can't remember ALL of them. I will start this process. yes I know my NI number. thanks by the way for the info..

Mummy in the foothills

I just filled out the form for back payments, luckily I've had two employers since getting here, and one is out of business long ago.
I had to put month and year and just year in some spots I have no recollection of such details, I'm lucky if I remember what the date is today
While I was at it, I looked to see how old I have to be to retire in UK, it's 66 for me.

Giantaxe

You can make back payments for six financial years. They ask for all employers, but I suspect what they actually need to know is your employment for those past six years and your current employment in order to see whether you're eligible for Class 2 contributions. You can make payments moving forward until the year of your retirement age.

dunroving

With the moving goalposts (30 yrs, 35 yrs) I may now be 5 years short when I hit retirement. If I had known I could have bought the extra back in 2006. You play by the rules and then they change the rules. Gits.

Mummy in the foothills

I wonder when they are going to change this, and will it be a gradual thing, like raising the retirement age.
My letter with my forecast on still says 30 years. If I pay the back years (6) and each year now till retirement age I will have 30.

Sally Redux

In fairness the drop down to 30 years was quite recent.

rebs

Mummy, my understanding is that the changes are not phased in as such - depending on your date of birth you will either be on the current system, or the new system.

The relevant dates of birth are for men - 5th April 1953 and for women 6th July 1953.

If your date of birth is before this date, you are on the current system, after this date and you will be on the new proposals.

I can't remember what the deal is if your date of birth is actually on the date, so look that up

Perth

How do they check on the accuracy of it then? I am also fuzzy on dates going back a ways. As for the last 6, I have been self employed. So how do they check on that too?

Mummy in the foothills

We are well after that so I guess that means I'll be 5 years short no matter what I do

rebs

Me too - I currently have 27 years contributions and will be 50 this year - so I had about 16 years to acquire 3 more years which didn't seem such a massive task. Even a part time job would probably be enough to get a year's credit, so I figured I would perhaps do that at some stage.

Now, I'll have to get 8 years worth in the next 16 years which seems a much greater task

Giantaxe

I doubt they have any meaningful way of checking unless they share data with US SS and check to see whether people have made SS contributions in the years of claimed employment. And I do know someone whose been self employed here and they happily accepted that and allowed her to make back contributions.

windsong

It's just a shame that when you leave the USA you cannot "convert" your USA SS contributions into British contributions so that you only receive a UK state pension. It would make things SO much easier.

Englishmum

For those whom have been working in the US here is some info from their Social Security Administration about their agreements with the UK:

http://www.ssa.gov/international/Agr...phlets/uk.html

(They also should have the leaflet in US Social Security offices - I picked one up a couple of years ago).