I'm thinking about making up some of the shortfall in my UK NI pension contributions and have began the slow correspondence process with HMRC by letter.My question is has anyone done this and is it generally worthwhile.?I realize all cases are obviously different.it's quite daunting to take the decision to pay when there is a risk it may not be beneficial.Thanks.

Payments under the new system (after 2016) Yes.

Payments under the old system No.

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Payments under the new system (after 2016) Yes.

Payments under the old system No.

Thanks they have already informed me the first year that will improve my position is 2016-17 but it is not clear whether I would be better to pay class 2 or 3 contributions or by Annual request.

4 minutes ago, chang50 said:

Thanks they have already informed me the first year that will improve my position is 2016-17 but it is not clear whether I would be better to pay class 2 or 3 contributions or by Annual request.

Class 2 if they'll let you 2.85/week (Class 3 costs 14.75/week)

Edited February 16, 20197 yr by BritManToo

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Class 2 if they'll let you 2.75/week (Class 3 costs 14.75/week)

Thanks again,a lot to think about..

 

I'm in the process of doing this too. I have 39 years (verified by pensions people) of contributions but can make voluntary payments to make-up for the years I've been in Thailand and below pension age, going back to 2010/11 until 2018/19.

 

One of the questions I've asked, and am still awaiting an answer to, is whether voluntary contributions will result in any pension payment increase to a FROZEN pension. I don't want to pay £700 or so for each year only to be told that they don't count because I live in Thailand where the pension's frozen.

 

I can't provide proof but a little bit of research suggests that paying one year's worth of voluntary contributions increases your pension by about £4.70 a week. Based on that, the simple payback for that £700 (ish) is nearly 3 years, so not a bad deal (if you live that long!). 

 

If you're registered with the Government Gateway for your pension, you can see exactly which years are not 'full contributions' and how much you need to pay to fill each of them. I don't think you'll get a choice of paying Class 2 or 3 - only Class 3 will be on offer. 

2 minutes ago, MartinL said:

I'm in the process of doing this too. I have 39 years (verified by pensions people) of contributions but can make voluntary payments to make-up for the years I've been in Thailand and below pension age, going back to 2010/11 until 2018/19.

 

One of the questions I've asked, and am still awaiting an answer to, is whether voluntary contributions will result in any pension payment increase to a FROZEN pension. I don't want to pay £700 or so for each year only to be told that they don't count because I live in Thailand where the pension's frozen.

 

I can't provide proof but a little bit of research suggests that paying one year's worth of voluntary contributions increases your pension by about £4.70 a week. Based on that, the simple payback for that £700 (ish) is nearly 3 years, so not a bad deal (if you live that long!). 

 

If you're registered with the Government Gateway for your pension, you can see exactly which years are not 'full contributions' and how much you need to pay to fill each of them. I don't think you'll get a choice of paying Class 2 or 3 - only Class 3 will be on offer. 

Thanks for the info.I would assume that increases would be frozen.

I've been told I'm 10 years short of contributions for a full basic state pension.  I missed 3 years whilst at university (that I thought I should have been credited) and then I retired fully at age 47), and it seems there have been no additional for the higher rate contributions (SSP/SERP) that I made.

 

They want around 6.2kGBP to cover this shortfall.  The additional pension I will eventually receive (commences in 8 years time) would take c. 3 years to make up that.

But by investing the 6.2k now, I can certainly do better than the extra 40GBP per week I would receive.

 

...And of course there is no guarantee that they will actually pay overseas retirees ANYTHING by the time I get to 67. 

 

Edited February 16, 20197 yr by steve73
Corrected figures..

1 hour ago, MartinL said:

I have 39 years (verified by pensions people) of contributions but can make voluntary payments to make-up for the years I've been in Thailand

I thought you only needed 35 years to qualify for full UK pension.

I thought you only needed 35 years to qualify for full UK pension.

So did I !! But it does pay to check !! I paid 40 years but still needed a further 6 years to achieve full state pension ( I assumed it was because I was non resident for many years but not really sure). There were changes made and it depends if you were contracted out or not.

 

Last year I contacted them and got the details:

 

Basically I would receive £26 a week short of Full State Pension = £1,352 a year.

I paid £740 a year for the missing years so I figured it worth my while. ( as long as I live to 70 1/2 years old ) !!

 

In my case I had not paid NI for 1 1/2 years so I paid a lump sum for 1st year and then another lump sum to get back up to date and monthly from then on .

 

You can do it online via government gateway and then contact them via phone to get your repayment options.

 

OP , log on to HMRC, create a government gateway ( your personal username and password) and you can get all your information instantly using only your NI number.

 

You will get a forecast as shown .

 

 

 

I haven't checked for a while but was under the impression you can pay a single lump sum to make up the shortfall at 67. Would it not be more prudent to find out how much the shortfall will be then budget accordingly? You can then hedge against any nasty surprises in the future.

38 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

So did I !! But it does pay to check !! I paid 40 years but still needed a further 6 years to achieve full state pension ( I assumed it was because I was non resident for many years but not really sure). There were changes made and it depends if you were contracted out or not.

 

Last year I contacted them and got the details:

 

Basically I would receive £26 a week short of Full State Pension = £1,352 a year.

I paid £740 a year for the missing years so I figured it worth my while. ( as long as I live to 70 1/2 years old ) !!

 

In my case I had not paid NI for 1 1/2 years so I paid a lump sum for 1st year and then another lump sum to get back up to date and monthly from then on .

 

You can do it online via government gateway and then contact them via phone to get your repayment options.

 

OP , log on to HMRC, create a government gateway ( your personal username and password) and you can get all your information instantly using only your NI number.

 

You will get a forecast as shown .

 

 

 

Thanks I've already had a forecast I need to decide what to do next.Paying a lump sum  each year with form CF83 and direct debit seems the best option.

13 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

So did I !! But it does pay to check !! 

I paid 40 years but still needed a further 6 years to achieve full state pension ( I assumed it was because I was non resident for many years but not really sure). There were changes made and it depends if you were contracted out or not.

 

Last year I contacted them and got the details:

My story is for sure yeah I don't understand the way they work pensions out even using a computer, I was paid in UK even when I worked abroad sometimes.

 

Funny I did check and contact them because at the time they said you only needed 30 years contributions to get a UK pension.

I said would you be refunded the 12 years I've paid over the top. ????

 

I was recommended to contracted out and when retiring early at 57 and finishing work was advised to contract back in.

 

Reading before that 44 years was needed and I had 42 although the change I asked if I needed to pay the 2 extra years, they said no need you have enough NI payments to qualify for full Uk pension.

 

It got changed to 35 years at my time of claim, I was given 3 amounts to make up my pension, the full UK weekly amount at the time plus the what I think was contracted out years and another plus which I haven't got a clue about.

 

 

 

30 minutes ago, Baht Simpson said:

I haven't checked for a while but was under the impression you can pay a single lump sum to make up the shortfall at 67. Would it not be more prudent to find out how much the shortfall will be then budget accordingly? You can then hedge against any nasty surprises in the future.

Interesting I haven't heard that before presumably 66 in my case as I retire then.

 

2 hours ago, MartinL said:

One of the questions I've asked, and am still awaiting an answer to, is whether voluntary contributions will result in any pension payment increase to a FROZEN pension. I don't want to pay £700 or so for each year only to be told that they don't count because I live in Thailand where the pension's frozen.

 

When you reach retirement age you will be awarded a pension based on your contributions. It is not until you start to draw the pension that country of residence comes into play.

Even if you live in Thailand the pension is only frozen for the time spent there, I go to the UK every year and get the full pension for the time I spend in the UK.

2 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

I thought you only needed 35 years to qualify for full UK pension.

 

See here for why those of us who contracted into employer schemes have to pay more years in order to receive a full state pension:

 

Why won't I get a full state pension | This is Money

"The issue of ‘contracting out’ probably generates more correspondence to this column than almost any other issue"

 

I need 36 instead of 35 years payments.

 

Funnily, at the time, when my employer told me what a good idea it was, I replied "Unless the Gov. changes legislation to erode or negate the benefit.....which they can do at the stroke of a pen".

 

Which they did.

 

According to the article I am still better off.........I'll have to take the authors word for it!

 

 

Edited February 16, 20197 yr by Enoon

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

When you reach retirement age you will be awarded a pension based on your contributions. It is not until you start to draw the pension that country of residence comes into play.

Even if you live in Thailand the pension is only frozen for the time spent there, I go to the UK every year and get the full pension for the time I spend in the UK.

Thanks Sandy. I was aware of that. 

 

What I was trying to say is that, if I receive a pension of (say) £130 p.w. and it's frozen, do voluntary contributions made AFTER receipt of pension actually increase that frozen pension? 

 

E.g. if I was living in UK, in receipt of pension and made a VC that would increase the pension by £10 p.w. that'd be available immediately. As I'm living in Thailand and might, in the future, make a VC AFTER receipt of (frozen) pension - can make VCs up until 2023 but due to reach pension age this year - would the frozen pension be temporarily unfrozen, increased by the amount due because of the VC and then refrozen? 

 

Hope that's clearer.

Those living or planning to live in Thailand need to appreciate that whatever amount of state pension they receive that sum will be 'frozen' from the date it is claimed or Thai residency is taken up.  Inflation will ensure that the value of the pension reduces yearly 

18 hours ago, sandyf said:

When you reach retirement age you will be awarded a pension based on your contributions. It is not until you start to draw the pension that country of residence comes into play.

Even if you live in Thailand the pension is only frozen for the time spent there, I go to the UK every year and get the full pension for the time I spend in the UK.

When retired it's OK if you want to go back UK every year, I don't want to spend time in UK so I planned on the fact my pension would be frozen.

If you stay 6 months at a time in UK you can get rises every year which again is not something I need or want.

18 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

See here for why those of us who contracted into employer schemes have to pay more years in order to receive a full state pension:

 

Why won't I get a full state pension | This is Money

"The issue of ‘contracting out’ probably generates more correspondence to this column than almost any other issue"

 

I need 36 instead of 35 years payments.

 

Funnily, at the time, when my employer told me what a good idea it was, I replied "Unless the Gov. changes legislation to erode or negate the benefit.....which they can do at the stroke of a pen".

 

Which they did.

 

According to the article I am still better off.........I'll have to take the authors word for it!

Not sure what you mean, it turned out I did the right thing concerning my future UK gov pension I contracted out of serps as I remember it being called and contracted back in when I retired on the advice of my Barclays bank pension provider.

I also did some other scheme for a few years during employment which was introduced by Prime Minister Maggie, haven't clue what it was but again done on the advice of my accountant. 

I was surprised what I was awarded with my UK pension it was only my private pensions that took a hit in 2008 but luckily they recovered a bit in the aftermath.

 

As I am never likely to get a permanent residency here my home address is the UK keep an address there open a PO account and get it payed in every week to avoid all this bull about NHS and pension increases if you paid in take it its yours ????  

17 hours ago, Christophers200 said:

Those living or planning to live in Thailand need to appreciate that whatever amount of state pension they receive that sum will be 'frozen' from the date it is claimed or Thai residency is taken up.  Inflation will ensure that the value of the pension reduces yearly 

Only if you tell them where you're going.

59 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Only if you tell them where you're going.

It is a criminal offense not to inform the DWP of a change in circumstance.

45 minutes ago, Christophers200 said:

It is a criminal offense not to inform the DWP of a change in circumstance.

And yet they have addresses for under 40% of UK pensioners (DWP stats).

(Which must mean 60% of pensioners are criminals by your reckoning)

Edited February 17, 20197 yr by BritManToo

2 hours ago, Christophers200 said:

It is a criminal offense not to inform the DWP of a change in circumstance.

I think its a whole lot more criminal of the DWP to tell me I'm less British after decades of contributions ????

3 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

I think its a whole lot more criminal of the DWP to tell me I'm less British after decades of contributions ????

The big difference is that you can be charged and convicted of fraud. When did the DWP start lessening someones "Britishness" do they do it by letter or face to face?

7 hours ago, Christophers200 said:

It is a criminal offense not to inform the DWP of a change in circumstance.

That ('How many have been charged...?') would make an interesting FoI request. I bet the answer is 'None!'.

Edited February 17, 20197 yr by evadgib

8 minutes ago, evadgib said:

That ('How many have been charged...?') would make an interesting FoI request. I bet the answer is 'None!'.

You obviously do not read the Daily Mail who specialise in reporting on those who scam the benefits/pension systems. Your FOI list would be very long

1 hour ago, Christophers200 said:

You obviously do not read the Daily Mail who specialise in reporting on those who scam the benefits/pension systems. Your FOI list would be very long

No, the answer is still none, all the Daily Mail reports are about about falsely claiming the dole (usually while living in Spain). Not one story on a frozen pension.

 

Happy to have yo link me to a frozen pension case.

Edited February 17, 20197 yr by BritManToo

6 hours ago, Christophers200 said:

The big difference is that you can be charged and convicted of fraud. When did the DWP start lessening someones "Britishness" do they do it by letter or face to face?

Freezing of pension rights because you spend all or most of your time abroad surly makes you less British dose it not as for the criminality part you do what suits you me I will be a pension crim and proud of it when the time comes????