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. 

[Guderian]

I went through this rigmarole 10 years ago and it wasn't easy then, DWP was fine but HMRC seemed very reluctant to take any money off me. They gave me a list of outstanding years that I could pay for immediately, with quite a few of them this would be my last opportunity to buy them so I sent a cheque for over £8K and those years were credited to my NI record. They also set up a direct debit which would allow them to deduct the Class 3 contributions from my bank account monthly every year until my 66th birthday. Once it was all set up it worked fine, and two years ago when I reached 66 they started paying the state pension, which by then was over £9K even though I only had 30 years to my name, not the full 35 required to maximise your pension. I'd only been contracted out for 5 years in total so I'm mostly on the new system. My brother had over 40 years to his credit but had been contracted out all the time so his pension was actually smaller than mine. Of course, as I'm honest and they know I live in Thailand I haven't received any indexation. I knew that would happen, but it's kind of annoying when I actually paid good money for my Class 3 contributions, while for most people the years simply build up as a free perk of working and paying NI. Remember the National Insurance Fund that's also supposed to pay for the NHS, the biggest secret about which is that there is no National Insurance Fund, lol? It's all just a Ponzi scheme and becoming increasingly unaffordable for the cash-strapped British government as the number of new members declines yet they somehow have to support the large cohort of Baby Boomers.

[Brick Top]

It took me 3 years to sort mine out , In the end I paid 17 years back at a cost of over £13,500 .

I started phoning them up in 2021 , but it would take over 40 mins for them to answer the phone only to tell me to phone a different number. 

Eventually they told me to write in , it would take them between 4 and 6 months to reply to my 3 letters. They could never explain why the online system showed i had 15 years of full national insurance contributions and 6 further years were in being looked into which would have given me 19 years. After buggering me around for 3 years in numerous letters and phone calls and 2 complaints I had lodged that never got dealt with. I eventually paid myself right back to 2006 which was 18 years that cost me £13,642 .

Then , they informed me that I still only had 32 full years and therefore would never get the full pension as you needed 35 for that.

I strated collecting my pension in March 2024 at the rate of £202  a week.

Makes me mad as if you spent your life on benefits like most in the UK , you would be entitled to the full pension. 

[Kenny Boy]

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 paid online for a missing year last

May.

 Nothing showed on the HMRC app after a few months, so I complained online (twice) and have also submitted a written complaint.

All have gone unanswered.

Still the missing year is unchanged and my pension forecast remains unaltered.

i filled in an online form 2 months ago for a ‘promised’ call back, but no call received thus far.

A service so bad it is untrue.

But when THEY want something from you they are as quick as a Jaguar.

 

[Bredbury Blue]

I'm in a similar situation the OP.

 

I've lived overseas for some time and paid annual voluntary contributions, and I received a letter saying I'd paid enough to receive full pension, so i stopped paying NIC annually.

 

Then unknown to me they brought in the new state pension, and a year ago a friend tipped me off about the deadline for paying backdated NIC by 05 April 2025.

 

I got myself a HRMC website account which showed under the new pension system I would fall short of full pension but could pay a lot of money to backpay the more expensive (class 2?) NICs to catchup to get full pension.

 

I commenced writing to the Pensions dept in June 2024 and sent the necessary form to enquire how much to pay (as i wasn't convinced by the amounts the website said i had to pay, seemed too much) and after sending 3 letters (twice I sent the form)  I finally received a letter late 2024 informing how much to pay for each year for the cheaper NICs (class 3?) as backdated payment to receive full pension. So I was right, the website says I have to pay the expensive class 2 but on checking was told I could pay the cheaper class 3.

 

In January 2025 I made a payment for the cheaper class 3  amount ( from mu Uk bank account to their bank account) for the outstanding years between 2006 and April 2025. There is an explanation online of the banking reference you have to create when making the payment so they know it's from you.

 

February 2025 having heard nothing I called. 30 minutes wait, put through to a lady in Glasgow. She confirmed she could see the amount I paid and the relevant people would be in touch soon.

 

Having heard nothing I filled a form in online in March 2025. Form says 10 days for reply. No reply.

 

End of March did the 'call back form' before 05 April deadline date, required to ensure catch-up payments before 2019 can be paid. No reply yet.

 

My HRMC online account for NIC shows the same as it has for the past year (that I have alot of unpaid years at the expensive class 2), but my Pension page online since 05 April now shows my estimate and forecast pension have increased alot compared to the amount before 05 April, so I'm hopeful I've almost sorted out my pension problem, but i can't be sure. 

 

I will probably call them again in a week or 2 to check out the true situation with my NIC, my payment and my pension amount.

 

It's not easy is it!

[topt]

3 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

So I was right, the website says I have to pay the expensive class 2 but on checking was told I could pay the cheaper class 3.

Class 2 is for self employed and those who are/were working abroad (see link below)

Class 3 is for voluntary payments and is far more expensive than Class 2....

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/who-can-pay-voluntary-contributions

[Bredbury Blue]

7 hours ago, topt said:

Class 2 is for self employed and those who are/were working abroad (see link below)

Class 3 is for voluntary payments and is far more expensive than Class 2....

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/who-can-pay-voluntary-contributions

Then I meant the other way round (i.e. website says pay Class 3 but on enquiring i was informed to pay the cheaper Class 2). Thanks for the correction.

[GanDoonToonPet]

11 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

February 2025 having heard nothing I called. 30 minutes wait, put through to a lady in Glasgow. She confirmed she could see the amount I paid and the relevant people would be in touch soon.

 

Having heard nothing I filled a form in online in March 2025. Form says 10 days for reply. No reply

 

I'm in the exact same situation as you, except I'm just about to call them to check that they've received my payment (it's been just over 8 weeks as they advise).

 

Current time from making payment to updating NI records is 65 weeks!

 

When you last called HMRC, did you inform them which years you want to allocate the payment to?

[GanDoonToonPet]

HMRC have a community forum where official advisors respond to questions...or you can just look through the existing posts as people ask the same questions over and over again 🙂

 

https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/customerforums/ni

[stubuzz]

2 hours ago, GanDoonToonPet said:

Current time from making payment to updating NI records is 65 weeks!

 

I promptly paid my 2023/24 bill last year and it still has not been credited. Now, i have just received a new bill asking for 2 years 2023-2025. Where can i complain online as i don't want to call.

[GanDoonToonPet]

You could try HMRC Online chat. You can chat with an advisor, as opposed to a computer, during office hours.

 

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/ask-hmrc/chat/online-services-helpdesk

 

[topt]

6 hours ago, stubuzz said:

 

I promptly paid my 2023/24 bill last year and it still has not been credited. Now, i have just received a new bill asking for 2 years 2023-2025. Where can i complain online as i don't want to call.

You can fill in an official complaint in an online form - which is what I had to do. To get to it however I think you have to be signed in to your account.

[stubuzz]

1 hour ago, topt said:

You can fill in an official complaint in an online form - which is what I had to do. To get to it however I think you have to be signed in to your account.

In the HMRC account where you check your NI contributions?

https://www.gov.uk/log-in-register-hmrc-online-services

[topt]

3 minutes ago, stubuzz said:

In the HMRC account where you check your NI contributions?

https://www.gov.uk/log-in-register-hmrc-online-services

I can't remember but if you start there you should be able to find it. The link I posted says you have to sign in to do an online complaint. Or once signed in do a search within the HMRC site.

[Bredbury Blue]

On 4/20/2025 at 11:06 PM, GanDoonToonPet said:

 

I'm in the exact same situation as you, except I'm just about to call them to check that they've received my payment (it's been just over 8 weeks as they advise).

 

Current time from making payment to updating NI records is 65 weeks!

 

When you last called HMRC, did you inform them which years you want to allocate the payment to?

I did.
I received a State Pension statement letter from PT Operations North East England, BXG 1AN, UK in Sept 2024 which itemised the 'Class 2 NICs shortfall rates' i should pay for the 16 years of gaps. I paid that amount in January. When i phoned +44 191 218 3600 and spoke to a lady in Glasgow in February, i gave her the letter reference, explained the total amount for the exact 16 year period. 

[GanDoonToonPet]

OK then...guess we'll both have to wait until next year to see our NI record updated 😟

[Bredbury Blue]

54 minutes ago, GanDoonToonPet said:

OK then...guess we'll both have to wait until next year to see our NI record updated 😟

 

Interesting development.

Until recently my NIC page on the HRMC website, showed (i) i had 16 years of gaps, showed (ii) my "Current estimate based on NI record up to 5 April 2024" and (ii) "Forecast if your contribute NI until 5 April 2025" pension amounts i would receive were £30.10 and £23.87 respectively less than the the full new State Pension amount for 2024.

The backdated payment for those 16 years of gaps i made in January 2025 (for the cheaper Class 2 contributions) still hasn't been credited to my account according to the website, but, the website today now shows: 
(i) that 4 of those 16 years that were gaps are now full years, 
(ii) my "Current estimate based on NI record up to 5 April 2024" is now only £5.11 less than the the full new State Pension amount, and, 
(iii) my "Forecast if your contribute another year before 5 April 2025" is now showing the full new State Pension amount - very confusing!
It could be that the payment i made for 16 years Class 2 has been credited to the 4 years at Class 3, but that does work as the amount i paid would be insufficient to pay 4 years at Class 3.

 

Looks like i'll have to do another call to Future Pension Centre (+44 191 218 3600).