Voluntary National Insurance contributions - what should happen?

[Zaphod Priest]

My attempt to pay voluntary NI contributions hasn't gone smoothly.

 

Last October I 'phoned the Future Pension Centre.  They checked my record and told me to complete the online form "Apply to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions when abroad", which I did.  I then checked when I could expect to receive a reply, and discovered it would be in January.

 

In March I submitted a complaint saying that I hadn't received a response.  After a bit of toing and froing I got details of the bank account through which I would pay and told to give my NI number and name as the reference - no PIN number.

 

Now they've got my money, how are they going to know which years to allocate it to?  And how should the process have worked?

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks

[BangkokReady]

Presumably they will apply it from now until you stop.

 

I believe this is different from paying for missed years.

[Upnotover]

What are you actually trying to achieve?  Ongoing payments or missing years?  

[SMIAI]

You've left a bit of your story. How you arrived at the amount that you decided to pay. I guess that was the to-ing and fro-ing.

Online, you are presented with differing options of the cheapest and most beneficial years that will improve your forecasted pension. The process of deciding how much you should pay will have included the information of which years pertain to the total amount to be paid.

Since you asked about which years, it appears to me  that you want to cover some previous years.

Create an online account if you like.  https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record Then you will see if the payments have been allocated. 

 

[topt]

20 minutes ago, SMIAI said:

Create an online account if you like.  https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record Then you will see if the payments have been allocated. 

It may take a while for that to happen. I think current estimates are in excess of 16 weeks for payments to be allocated - but he may be lucky........

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-14519849/Pensioner-patient-wait-state-pension-payment.html

 

My payment in May last year was not credited until December and I believe only because I filed an online complaint - but I had been paying for quite a few years so was not a new isolated payment which made the delay even more nonsensical until you factor in the no. of increased submissions due to the changes they made.

 

OP there are some other threads in this specific forum which may be worthwhile reading.

[Zaphod Priest]

47 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

What are you actually trying to achieve?  Ongoing payments or missing years?  

 

Missing years.

[Zaphod Priest]

42 minutes ago, SMIAI said:

You've left a bit of your story. How you arrived at the amount that you decided to pay.

 

That's shown when you check your National Insurance record online.

 

[Zaphod Priest]

44 minutes ago, SMIAI said:

Online, you are presented with differing options of the cheapest and most beneficial years that will improve your forecasted pension.

 

I believe that only applies to people in the UK.  Those living abroad can't pay on line.

[SMIAI]

That may be the case, but I don't think that precludes you from creating an account in order to check as to whether your records are up to date.

By the sounds of it, you've already checked online. So what happened? Did you just calculate the total payment by yourself or were options presented to you? 

Just wondering how you came to the amount that you chose to send.

 

[GanDoonToonPet]

I've just been through the exact same process, starting January this year.

 

After you completed the online CF83 form, did you recieve a letter with shortfall tables, detailing which weeks / years you are eligible to pay class 2 NIC?

[BKKBike09]

I thought there was a deadline of April a couple of years back for being able to pay for missing years? Or has that been postponed? And wasn't there also some limit to how many years could be paid up?

 

I started paying the Voluntary Contributions maybe 7/8 years ago and then paid up a further tranche of missing years just before that deadline (2023?).

 

I'm hazy on the details re the missing years process but recall phoning them and discussing on the phone how many years / how much to pay etc, which payment I made from my UK bank account.

 

I recall there being something that needed to be done to ensure that the lump sum went to cover missing years, to avoid it going on account to cover future NIC payments (even though those are paid from my account by direct debit). I have a feeling that 'something that needed to be done' was to call them after the payment had been made to check that it was properly allocated. I appreciate this isn't very helpful advice and of course things may have all changed as I don't remember there being any online forms involved.

 

If it's still possible to pay for missing years then, for many people, I think it's a great deal, especially for those  who don't have a large private pension pot but instead will be reliant, in their dotage, on various different income streams. I think I paid around £2,000 to pay up a further 10 years: that lifted current forecast to something over £10,000 a year if I keep paying the contributions for a few more years, or around £8,000 if I were to stop now. Since the contributions are so low and cost about the same as three pints a month (less if London pints!) it's a great deal.

[spambot]

You can get either from the Gov gateway or by post your missing years, however paying for missing years does not automatically guarantee that you get the benefit from the payment for extra pension paid.

 

You can only pay voluntary contributions for the past 6 years. The deadline is 5 April each year, so you have until 5 April 2031 to make up gaps for the tax year 2024 to 2025. You may have previously been able to pay for gaps going back more than 6 years, but option and the deadline to pay this was 5 April 2025. 

 

I am not sure of you specific circumstances, but the first thing to find out is not only which years are available for voluntary contributions, but if these contributions would increase your pension paid out. Simply request this and call (0800 731 0469) - "I want to know what options I have for paying voluntary contributions and the extra pension benefit this would give me". This will be calculated by a dedicated department and this would give you all the information that you need.

 

For example the letter that I received said: "Although the years xxxx to yyyy are non qualifying years for state pension purposes, payment of these years would not improve your state pension"  

 

"Non-qualifying years" for a UK State Pension refer to years where you haven't met the minimum requirements for a year to count towards your State Pension entitlement. This typically means you didn't pay enough National Insurance contributions or receive enough credits in that year. 

 

Every circumstance is different, but if you have been overseas for the periods you are asking to pay the voluntary contributions then you should get the increase  in extra state pension from making voluntary contributions.

 

Making the payment can be done on a phone call or online or even by bank transfer using sort code  08 32 20. account number 12001004. account name "HMRC NIC Receipts"  However this option is only available if sent from a UK bank account.

 

 

[Scouse123]

On 4/14/2025 at 7:35 PM, Zaphod Priest said:

My attempt to pay voluntary NI contributions hasn't gone smoothly.

 

Last October I 'phoned the Future Pension Centre.  They checked my record and told me to complete the online form "Apply to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions when abroad", which I did.  I then checked when I could expect to receive a reply, and discovered it would be in January.

 

In March I submitted a complaint saying that I hadn't received a response.  After a bit of toing and froing I got details of the bank account through which I would pay and told to give my NI number and name as the reference - no PIN number.

 

Now they've got my money, how are they going to know which years to allocate it to?  And how should the process have worked?

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks

 

 

I have just had the same and am awaiting my complaint response.

 

My guess is they will credit it to the most recent years; I mentioned in my complaint the year I wanted it credited to.

 

It says online ' pending ', so I'll wait and see.

[spambot]

41 minutes ago, BKKBike09 said:

I thought there was a deadline of April a couple of years back for being able to pay for missing years? Or has that been postponed? And wasn't there also some limit to how many years could be paid up?

 

I started paying the Voluntary Contributions maybe 7/8 years ago and then paid up a further tranche of missing years just before that deadline (2023?).

 

I'm hazy on the details re the missing years process but recall phoning them and discussing on the phone how many years / how much to pay etc, which payment I made from my UK bank account.

 

I recall there being something that needed to be done to ensure that the lump sum went to cover missing years, to avoid it going on account to cover future NIC payments (even though those are paid from my account by direct debit). I have a feeling that 'something that needed to be done' was to call them after the payment had been made to check that it was properly allocated. I appreciate this isn't very helpful advice and of course things may have all changed as I don't remember there being any online forms involved.

 

If it's still possible to pay for missing years then, for many people, I think it's a great deal, especially for those  who don't have a large private pension pot but instead will be reliant, in their dotage, on various different income streams. I think I paid around £2,000 to pay up a further 10 years: that lifted current forecast to something over £10,000 a year if I keep paying the contributions for a few more years, or around £8,000 if I were to stop now. Since the contributions are so low and cost about the same as three pints a month (less if London pints!) it's a great deal.

Missing years can also get confusing when you think that you have paid the full 35 yrs, but do not receive the full pension - This is what I received as an explanation in a letter, even after paying for 35 years national insurance "Your State Pension is less than the maximum rate because you were contracted-out of the State scheme for a period. Whilst you were contracted-out, you paid a lower rate of National Insurance contribution and your State Pension has to be reduced accordingly." Simply put, there is not straight forward calculation for identifying the decrease in the state pension amount i.e sometimes it might be a full year benefit loss or part of the year. Each calculation is depending on the terms for every private pension when dealing with the contracted out part of the state pension. The point is that each private pension decrease when contracted out is calculated individually and this becomes something of a black box.