Paying voluntary National Insurance contributions - ridiculous processing time

[Foxx]

There's a deadline for paying additional NI contributions going back more than 6 years of 5 April 2025.  I started the application process online today thinking there'd be plenty of time.

 

I was therefore surprised to learn there is currently a 15 week backlog.   Assuming the backlog doesn't get longer (which it probably will), I can expect them to post out a reply on 24 January.  Add a couple of weeks for post from UK to Thailand, and then I'm getting very close to the deadline.

 

If anyone else is thinking of making such contributions, I suggest you do it a.s.a.p., and do it online.

[RayC]

Not sure if this helps?

 

If you have made voluntary contributions in the past, then you should be able to by-pass the initial phrase by making a payment(s) using the same reference as before. Your 'new' contributions will then be credited to your account a couple of months later.

 

I've made 3 sets of payments like this over the past 5 or so years.

[topt]

On 10/9/2024 at 3:45 PM, Foxx said:

I was therefore surprised to learn there is currently a 15 week backlog. 

 

On 10/9/2024 at 8:51 PM, RayC said:

Not sure if this helps?

 

If you have made voluntary contributions in the past, then you should be able to by-pass the initial phrase by making a payment(s) using the same reference as before. Your 'new' contributions will then be credited to your account a couple of months later.

 

I've made 3 sets of payments like this over the past 5 or so years.

yes well I have made payments for more than the last 5 years and my payment made (and confirmed verbally as received) in May still hasn't been credited. Even though it was transferred to a case worker the latest estimate I got was that it could be February before it showed up online.......

That would only be more than 9 months..........

 

Seems to all be due to the relatively recent more public announcements of an extended period to be able to pay missing years which is a positive for many people.

 

Having been chasing consistently I have now just resigned myself to waiting.  

[RayC]

2 hours ago, topt said:

 

yes well I have made payments for more than the last 5 years and my payment made (and confirmed verbally as received) in May still hasn't been credited. Even though it was transferred to a case worker the latest estimate I got was that it could be February before it showed up online.......

That would only be more than 9 months..........

 

Seems to all be due to the relatively recent more public announcements of an extended period to be able to pay missing years which is a positive for many people.

 

Having been chasing consistently I have now just resigned myself to waiting.  

 

Seems to be hit and miss with DWP. Some people - like me - have no problems whatsoever; others - like you - experience problems and delays. Luck of the draw, I guess🤷

[topt]

8 hours ago, RayC said:

 

Seems to be hit and miss with DWP. Some people - like me - have no problems whatsoever; others - like you - experience problems and delays. Luck of the draw, I guess🤷

Nothing to do with DWP - I did try and check with Future Pensions Centre as well. The payments and online portal all handled by HMRC.

 

Previous years took up to (once) 16 weeks but that was during Covid.............

[NotEinstein]

In August, when I made the payment, I was told it should be processed by Christmas. I sent a registered letter detailing my payment and which years I wished it to be allocated to.

[BritManToo]

Did 4 years by phone (3 calls) at the end of 2021, paid by bank transfer.

DWP said phone us up again in 2 weeks and we'll manually update your payments info.

So less than 3 weeks from start to finish.

[Foxx]

On 10/9/2024 at 3:45 PM, Foxx said:

there is currently a 15 week backlog

 

It now occurs to me just how ridiculous this backlog is.  The processing is simply looking at gaps, identifying the cost of filling each gap and working out the pension uplift from filling the gap.  This is the sort of thing that a computer could do in fractions of a second.  It could even be put online.  The Luddites at HMRC just don't care.

(It rather reminds me of how, when HMRC computerised tax returns, they didn't bother to include the pages for non-UK residents.  20 or so years later, those pages have still not been put online, despite how that would be most beneficial to expats, leading to a much slower, manual processing.)

[topt]

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Did 4 years by phone (3 calls) at the end of 2021, paid by bank transfer.

DWP said phone us up again in 2 weeks and we'll manually update your payments info.

So less than 3 weeks from start to finish.

Unless I am reading that wrong that was 3 years ago........so not really relevant to timescales happening (or not happening..) now.

[OnTheLash]

On 10/9/2024 at 11:45 AM, Foxx said:

There's a deadline for paying additional NI contributions going back more than 6 years of 5 April 2025.  I started the application process online today thinking there'd be plenty of time.

 

I was therefore surprised to learn there is currently a 15 week backlog.   Assuming the backlog doesn't get longer (which it probably will), I can expect them to post out a reply on 24 January.  Add a couple of weeks for post from UK to Thailand, and then I'm getting very close to the deadline.

 

If anyone else is thinking of making such contributions, I suggest you do it a.s.a.p., and do it online.

 

I filled out the form and sent an accompanying letter a month ago. I rang them up a few days ago and I was told it was lucky I called, because my form and letter were in the wrong queue. BTW its my 3rd letter...long story!!

I believe I am eligible for class 2 contributions. I owe 15 years. I was told on the phone that there is a 32 week wait. I said to her do you means 32 days?... she said no 32 weeks. Massive backlog now.

Its not a problem as long as the application is in before 5th April 2025.

Call at 08h00 UK time, it normally takes 15 to 20 minutes for them to answer. I have called approximately 8 times in total.

Hopefully I will get there in the end, I have time on my side.

[GanDoonToonPet]

3 hours ago, OnTheLash said:

I believe I am eligible for class 2 contributions. I owe 15 years

 

Do you mean you're eligible for class 2 for past gaps or for future contributions as well. The Gov recently abolished class 2 so must pay class 3 now...currently about 900 GBP per year. 🤔

[OnTheLash]

7 hours ago, GanDoonToonPet said:

 

Do you mean you're eligible for class 2 for past gaps or for future contributions as well. The Gov recently abolished class 2 so must pay class 3 now...currently about 900 GBP per year. 🤔

Only for past gaps. If I pay the 15 years now I will be paid up. I will have paid a total of 40 years. In my case it was 41 years but I got a free year when I was 16 at college.  There is a big difference between class 2 and class 3 as I am sure you know. I left the UK in 1998. I made a payment 15 years ago and in hindsight probably overpaid. Every case is different, it is not as straight forward as some people will tell you.

[slingerwood]

Why pay , if you live in thailand  your state pension will be frozen anyway .

[Brick Top]

I recently paid 15 years worth , they let me go back to 2006 , it cost me around  £13,000 , i estimate i will get my money back within 3 years with the increased pension so its like 33.3% on my investment. I strated to receive my pension in February thus year,  i will never get the full pension as i only have 32 full years instead of 35 needed to get the maximum. 

What annoyed me was i had yesrs in 1982 and 1983 and 1986 with just one or two week missing , i proved this wasn't my fault but they wouldn't let me pay back those odd few weeks.

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, Brick Top said:

I recently paid 15 years worth , they let me go back to 2006 , it cost me around  £13,000 , i estimate i will get my money back within 3 years with the increased pension so its like 33.3% on my investment. I strated to receive my pension in February thus year,  i will never get the full pension as i only have 32 full years instead of 35 needed to get the maximum. 

What annoyed me was i had yesrs in 1982 and 1983 and 1986 with just one or two week missing , i proved this wasn't my fault but they wouldn't let me pay back those odd few weeks.

Additional years before the new pension scheme 2015 often do not increase pension pay out.

[Kenny Boy]

I made an online payment back in May and it still hasn’t shown up online as being paid.

Wrote to them 2 months ago querying its whereabouts and have received no response.

I assume most of the staff are still ‘working from home’ in their pyjamas and this leads to the ridiculous inefficiency 

 

[Kenny Boy]

2 hours ago, slingerwood said:

Why pay , if you live in thailand  your state pension will be frozen anyway .

Because it will be frozen at a higher rate, obviously.

[The Fat Controller]

2 hours ago, Brick Top said:

I recently paid 15 years worth , they let me go back to 2006 , it cost me around  £13,000 , i estimate i will get my money back within 3 years with the increased pension so its like 33.3% on my investment. I strated to receive my pension in February thus year,  i will never get the full pension as i only have 32 full years instead of 35 needed to get the maximum. 

What annoyed me was i had yesrs in 1982 and 1983 and 1986 with just one or two week missing , i proved this wasn't my fault but they wouldn't let me pay back those odd few weeks.

Only those that have started work since 2016 will need 35 years, so much confusion about that number.

Those who started work well before that can need up to 49 qualifying years especially if, like me, they were in contracted-out company pension schemes

I needed 48.

 

[Brick Top]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Additional years before the new pension scheme 2015 often do not increase pension pay out.

Not in my case , before i paid the £13,000 in Voluntary Contributions  , my pension forcast was around £72 a week,  now i receive £202.98 a week , so in my case it was certainly worth it

[Brick Top]

1 hour ago, The Fat Controller said:

Only those that have started work since 2016 will need 35 years, so much confusion about that number.

Those who started work well before that can need up to 49 qualifying years especially if, like me, they were in contracted-out company pension schemes

I needed 48.

 

Not in my case , because i was self employed , so i needed 35 qualifiing full years toget the full pension. 

[topt]

23 hours ago, Kenny Boy said:

I made an online payment back in May and it still hasn’t shown up online as being paid.

Wrote to them 2 months ago querying its whereabouts and have received no response.

You may want to ring them (using Skype or other similar low cost options) and just make sure they confirm they have received your money. 

I also paid in May and the last communication I had with them suggested maybe February based on current backlog........

[nahkit]

On 11/15/2024 at 10:37 AM, Kenny Boy said:

Because it will be frozen at a higher rate, obviously.

I deferred taking my pension for a year in order to get the higher rate due in April 2023 but when I received my first payment it was less than I expected. When I called them to query this I was told that my pension was frozen at the rate in force on the day I was eligible to claim, not at the rate in force on the day when I actually made my claim.

 

Something to watch out for if you're thinking of holding off claiming until after the next April increase.

[MRMOUSE]

On 10/9/2024 at 3:45 PM, Foxx said:

There's a deadline for paying additional NI contributions going back more than 6 years of 5 April 2025.  I started the application process online today thinking there'd be plenty of time.

 

I was therefore surprised to learn there is currently a 15 week backlog.   Assuming the backlog doesn't get longer (which it probably will), I can expect them to post out a reply on 24 January.  Add a couple of weeks for post from UK to Thailand, and then I'm getting very close to the deadline.

 

If anyone else is thinking of making such contributions, I suggest you do it a.s.a.p., and do it online.

If you apply in time it will be accepted

[simon43]

I found that although my voluntary class 2 top-ups were extremely slow in showing up on my NI contributions webpage at gov.uk, if I telephoned HMRC, they were usually able to confirm receipt of my payments within 2 weeks of making it.

 

Just one more payment to make before they start to pay me 🙂  As I'm still working 2 jobs (in-class teaching in Myanmar and online teaching during the evenings/weekends), I have calculated that I will be almost swimming in dosh, (especially if I convert it to Burmese kyat!)

[HauptmannUK]

Future Pensions Centre and HMRC get full marks from me.

I was in UK five weeks ago and called the Future Pensions Centre about two years of NI I was short on. I had to hold about 45 minutes. Got through to a helpful lady who looked at my record, confirmed I was two years short for a full pension and calculated that if I paid the shortfall I would get my money back in about 90 weeks.

Another 10 minutes on hold while she put me through to an HMRC office. They guy there gave me numbers required to make payment by bank transfer. He said the payment would be processed in about two months. I check online yesterday and the outstanding years are now showing paid (so about 5 weeks).

[steve187]

On 11/15/2024 at 12:56 PM, The Fat Controller said:

Only those that have started work since 2016 will need 35 years, so much confusion about that number.

Those who started work well before that can need up to 49 qualifying years especially if, like me, they were in contracted-out company pension schemes

I needed 48.

 

i started working in 1972 and only needed 35 for full state pension, where do you get '' Only those that have started work since 2016 will need 35 years'' from, you are adding to the confusion

[topt]

On 12/7/2024 at 9:23 AM, HauptmannUK said:

I check online yesterday and the outstanding years are now showing paid (so about 5 weeks).

Sounds like you have been very fortunate so well done.

 

I paid in May and had several subsequent phone conversations -

On 10/12/2024 at 10:29 PM, topt said:

Having been chasing consistently I have now just resigned myself to waiting.  

I actually raised an online complaint on 9th November detailing all the dates of my calls and feedback from the staff.  Had a reply from an actual individual on 4th December and payment for last year now showing. They have also paid me £25 as compensation..............

 

So I am curious if I hadn't raised the complaint whether it would still not be showing but at least it is all done now and fully paid up.