National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

I worked in the UK for just a few years in the early 80s before moving to the US. I never bothered keeping up with my National Insurance as I had no intention of returning, and thoughts of 'pension' were not on the horizon. I also lost track of my NI number.

Today I found my old NI number, and was able to sign up on the website to see my details. Basically, it says:

You have:

• 8 years of full contributions
• 5 years to contribute before 5 April 2024
• 37 years when you did not contribute enough

I'm surprised by the '8 years' as it includes time when I was a full-time student, but regardless - does this mean I have any entitlement to anything?

ETA - Looks like I need a minimum of 10 full years to be entitled to a state pension. Is there any facility for me to voluntarily make up the required 2 years, given that I have about 4 years to go before retirement age?

This page - https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice....-contributions suggests I may be able to pay topups. Is it easy to figure out if it's worth it?

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

As it says '' 5 years to contribute before April 2024"

You can voluntarily make contributions to this date:

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

Make contributions for the missing years up to the maximum allowed. Better than any investment on the financial markets.

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

Some VERY SIMPLE calculations I've made.
Current 'full pension' is 164.35 GBP. => (x 52) = 8,546 GBP / yr.

If I can 'top up' say, 2 years, then I'll have 10 years contributions. Would that then entitle me to 10/35 * 8,546 = 2,442 GBP / year? I read that the payment will be 'pro-rated' but it doesn't explicitly state that it's a simple calculation. Is 10 / 35 the logical formula here (assuming 10 'full years')?

From what I've read, I can either make voluntary contributions as 'Class 2' or 'Class 3'. Some numbers I'm finding are circa 15 GBP / week. Is that in the ball-park? And how do I know whether I should pay Class 2 or Class 3?

Assuming the number of 15 GBP / week is in the ballpark for the cost of the voluntary contributions, then that would mean to get to the '10 full years' would cost me 15 * 52 * 2 = 1,560 GBP. Thus - for a one-time payment of 1,560 GBP I would start getting an annual payment of 2,442 GBP per year at retirement age. Clearly that would seem worth it! Obviously I can up-scale this to the maximum allowed catch-up, but for starters I just want to consider the 10 year minimum.

This page - https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-nationa...-contributions says the following, regarding class 2 and class 3:
Living and working abroad
Class 2 - but only if you worked in the UK immediately before leaving, and you’ve previously lived in the UK for at least 3 years in a row or paid at least 3 years of contributions

Living abroad but not working
Class 3 - but only if at some point you’ve lived in the UK for at least 3 years in a row or paid at least 3 years of contributions

This page - https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-nationa...ibutions/rates says the following, regarding actual rates:

The rates for the 2019 to 2020 tax year are:

£3 a week for Class 2
£15 a week for Class 3

That's a BIG difference between Class 2 and Class 3! It seems I can easily qualify for Class 2, since I'm currently still working part-time, and I was working in the UK immediately prior to leaving (back in 83) and paid over 3 years contributions. So can I actually use 3 GBP in my calcs rather than 15 GBP? That makes this a VERY attractive proposition!

I found addresses and phone numbers in the UK on form NI 38 for more information; would a call to one of these locations be the best next step?

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

Steerpike, is the web link you posted in your first message the place to find out about contributions? I liked to check out what mine is. Thanks.

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

There was talk about ending Class 2 NI, but paying at that rate is still possible. The qualifying conditions are rather odd.

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

Go to this site:

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check...ension/account

If you've never visited this site before, you'll have to go through a painful process that, for me, included firing up my UK cell (to receive a text), entering my UK passport details, and so on - but once I got in, I saw all the info I needed. I just re-visited the site, and again I had to fire up my UK cell to receive a text. I THOUGHT I needed to use a UK cell phone for the text, but in fact I just set up my US phone ... so that was an incorrect assumption.

I see that the address associated with my NI number is my UK address from the 70s. Not sure if I can safely change that to a US address.

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

Well paying at that rate makes this incredibly attractive!

I guess I'll call the number tomorrow and see what kind of advice they can give.

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

You've left some money on the table by not doing this years earlier, but you'll still get a very good deal.

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

Can anyone tell me how they determine what a 'full year' is? I'm seeing 'full years' for years when I was a full-time A-Level student! I did have a part-time job and I did work quite hard, but I can't imagine it was enough to pass any threshold. I'm not complaining, I'm just mystified. The reason I never pursued this until now is that I always assumed I only had 3-4 years 'credit', since I only worked 3-4 years full-time in the UK.

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

I'd assume a 'full year' for NI calculation purposes would be one full UK tax year, but don't quote me on that!

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

If you’re in full-time education from 16-18 then you’re automatically credited with those years whether you work or not.

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

Wow.
Found this document - https://assets.publishing.service.go...-tier-note.pdf which confirms what you say (extract):
Pity they didn't do the same credit for my university years :). However, they did credit me for some full years during my time at uni and afterwards in a manner that doesn't make sense to me. I took a year off between 2nd and 3rd years (79-80), and worked full-time. I then returned to uni for my 3rd year (80-81) - but I have full-year credits for 79-80 and 80-81 - maybe it's because I was technically being 'sponsored' by the company I worked for. I then worked for two years before heading to US in August 1983, but I have full credit for year 1983-84. How can I have a 'full credit' for a 'year' (which runs April to April, as I understand it) when I left and stopped earning in August 83 (I didn't make any voluntary payments back then).

Anyway - it's all good so the next step is to find out how to actually make the payments.

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

I think it's based on the amount you earned in the tax year, rather than the length of time you were employed.

Re: National Insurance paid over 30 years ago ... any use?
 

I just got off the phone with a pensions 'helpline' in UK. The lady said because I've been working abroad, I'm not limited to the 5 years of catch up allowed, and I can catch up from roughly 2003 to now - 15 years or so. AND - it seems - I can start making 'current' payments going forward! She said I should fill out form NI38 as best as I can for now, then mail it in. They will respond with more details as to what my options are ... "in about 7 weeks plus 4 weeks postage" ... which I'm going to assume will be a lot less. Next step is to mail in the paperwork ... I'll post back here as things progress.