How to pay missing UK National Insurance payments from Thailand?

[sandmike]

If you have not paid NI in the past few years, you can pay a maximum of 7 (I think) years of class 2 or 3 to catch up. If you write today to the pensions people you might just get a reply from them before the end of March

Good luck

[worrab]

Do not believe that 30 years payments will give you maximum pension. Things have changed drastically recently with the new pension coming into force. I thought the same thing in so much as I would get the reckoned maximum figure of £150 a week. Wrong!! After asking them for a quote last summer before moving here, I am only entitled to around £130 a week. Even on their breakdown of how it is calculated, I am totally baffled after paying in for over 30 years. I retired last year at 60 and will have to wait until I am 66 to start receiving this pension.

Worrab, not sure why your pension is worth only £130, you are very similar to me I'm 60 next year and my pension is up to date worth £138, however, from now till I retire, (7 years) I will be given the opportunity (as will all at my age) to increase my pension to the maximum of £155, £155 is the limit anything over that won't be allowed. If you are not working, you can pay AVCs to ensure that you reach this £155 ceiling. You might just about touch the ceiling. Similarly, you can backdate years also. You might still have 6 or 7 years you can pay, that will take you to the maximum of £155.

On a separate note, not sure why you have got only £130 only accrued, could be you contracted out of SERPs, in which case that portion is in a pension anyway for you and at the age of 55 it can be gotten at.

As soon as I can find the relevant paperwork, I will get the figures out. Have not got anything like that unpacked from England as the house is still being built and we have not moved in yet. All I can remember when I read through it all is that it was all worked out on different percentages of years to get to my pension figure. I get another pension as I have retired now, so I am not overly concerned and will be getting enough to be comfortable here. But it is strange having worked all my life to land up with the figure I did. I do not think I am the only one surprised with the way this is all worked out.

[sometimewoodworker]

The website states "you can only "top up" if born before dates in 1951 and 1953. What is the situation if born after that and have 30 years NI contributions but need 35 years to get a full pension?

The "top up" system is very different from the payment of qualifying years. If you are born before the magic dates YOU CAN NOT qualify for the new £155 basic pension you can only get the £115.95 per week basic pension.

It is of debatable value and the ROI is very much less than that of the voluntary NI class 3 payment for those borne after the magic dates.

As an example a man born in April 1949 who wants an extra £25 per week pays

£21,775 when youre 66

£21,175 when youre 67

This means that he has to live for more than 16 years to break even

However the class 3 payment for 2013~14 is £694.20 I qualifying year gives you about £4.42 per week So you break even after about 3 years (157 week) it is a no brainier to make voluntary NI class 3 payments

Edited February 10, 2016 by sometimewoodworker

[sometimewoodworker]

After 6 April this year, you will have to have 35 years of contributions AND have paid IN FULL into SERPS or similar to get the £155 per week. Any shortfall in payments to this 2nd pension will result in a reduced payment, even if you have 35 years or more of class 1 contributions. Many people did not contribute to this 2nd pension, and hence won't get the new full amount.

I don't agree with your reading of the effect of SERPS on the new pension

Please show where it states that 35 qualifying years of basic contributions for a person retiring after April 6th 2016 will NOT get the full £155.65 per week.

Payments into SERPS can get you more than the basic pension

[sometimewoodworker]

If you have not paid NI in the past few years, you can pay a maximum of 7 (I think) years of class 2 or 3 to catch up. If you write today to the pensions people you might just get a reply from them before the end of March

Good luck

I called them in January and was told that the backlog was over 6 months, so don't hold your breath

[sometimewoodworker]

a man born on or after 6 April 1951

a woman born on or after 6 April 1953

Can make voluntary contributions to get the needed 35 qualifying years for the new state pension, they may not be able to make enough depending on the number of qualifying years they have now, and which years are missing.

If born befor those dates they are not in the new pension system and only need 30 years and can only get £116 PW basic pension.

[ianwuk]

I signed up for a Nationwide IoM account.

So now I just have to wait to hear from them and HMRC on how to proceed.

Thanks so much to everyone who replied and contributed. It is much appreciated.

Regards.

Ian

[sandmike]

After 6 April this year, you will have to have 35 years of contributions AND have paid IN FULL into SERPS or similar to get the £155 per week. Any shortfall in payments to this 2nd pension will result in a reduced payment, even if you have 35 years or more of class 1 contributions. Many people did not contribute to this 2nd pension, and hence won't get the new full amount.

I don't agree with your reading of the effect of SERPS on the new pension

Please show where it states that 35 qualifying years of basic contributions for a person retiring after April 6th 2016 will NOT get the full £155.65 per week.

Payments into SERPS can get you more than the basic pension

STWW, I believe the links below discuss this in detail. The issue is whether you have fully contributed to SERPS / S2P.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2654291/REVEALED-How-6-10-wont-155-week-state-pension.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/11608210/The-new-flat-rate-pension-where-everybody-gets-different-amounts.html

http://m.citywire.co.uk/money/contracted-out-watch-out-for-your-state-pension/a784865

[sometimewoodworker]

After 6 April this year, you will have to have 35 years of contributions AND have paid IN FULL into SERPS or similar to get the £155 per week. Any shortfall in payments to this 2nd pension will result in a reduced payment, even if you have 35 years or more of class 1 contributions. Many people did not contribute to this 2nd pension, and hence won't get the new full amount.

I don't agree with your reading of the effect of SERPS on the new pension

Please show where it states that 35 qualifying years of basic contributions for a person retiring after April 6th 2016 will NOT get the full £155.65 per week.

Payments into SERPS can get you more than the basic pension

STWW, I believe the links below discuss this in detail. The issue is whether you have fully contributed to SERPS / S2P.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2654291/REVEALED-How-6-10-wont-155-week-state-pension.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/11608210/The-new-flat-rate-pension-where-everybody-gets-different-amounts.html

http://m.citywire.co.uk/money/contracted-out-watch-out-for-your-state-pension/a784865

Sorry no you are talking about people who were contract out of NI pension contributions.

I am correct in stating that if you have 35 qualifying years you WILL get the full pension.

Contracted out years are NOT qualifying year, as you contracted out of paying pension contributions.

When you decided to contract out of the state pension payments you chose an option that you felt gave you a better payment.

So once again if you have paid 35 years of national insurance (pension contributions) YOU WILL GET THE FULL NEW PENSION

Your links are not relevant to people who have 35 qualifying years

People who contracted out have a completely different set of conditions.

[partington]

After 6 April this year, you will have to have 35 years of contributions AND have paid IN FULL into SERPS or similar to get the £155 per week. Any shortfall in payments to this 2nd pension will result in a reduced payment, even if you have 35 years or more of class 1 contributions. Many people did not contribute to this 2nd pension, and hence won't get the new full amount.

I don't agree with your reading of the effect of SERPS on the new pension

Please show where it states that 35 qualifying years of basic contributions for a person retiring after April 6th 2016 will NOT get the full £155.65 per week.

Payments into SERPS can get you more than the basic pension

STWW, I believe the links below discuss this in detail. The issue is whether you have fully contributed to SERPS / S2P.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2654291/REVEALED-How-6-10-wont-155-week-state-pension.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/11608210/The-new-flat-rate-pension-where-everybody-gets-different-amounts.html

http://m.citywire.co.uk/money/contracted-out-watch-out-for-your-state-pension/a784865

Sorry no you are talking about people who were contract out of NI pension contributions.

I am correct in stating that if you have 35 qualifying years you WILL get the full pension.

Contracted out years are NOT qualifying year, as you contracted out of paying pension contributions.

When you decided to contract out of the state pension payments you chose an option that you felt gave you a better payment.

So once again if you have paid 35 years of national insurance (pension contributions) YOU WILL GET THE FULL NEW PENSION

Your links are not relevant to people who have 35 qualifying years

People who contracted out have a completely different set of conditions.

You are quite wrong about this. Years that you were contracted out of SERPS DO count as qualifying years, and are listed as qualifying years in your NI contributions statement. You still paid into the NI system during those years, but at a reduced rate, around 10% not 12%.

I know this to be a fact since I was contracted out of SERPS for ten years, asked for a statement of NI contributions last year, and was sent a list of every year's contributions since the 1970's. All my contracted out of SERPS years are listed as "qualifying years " on that statement.

What IS true is that contracted out of SERPS years are taken into account when calculating your final pension, and a sum is deducted , worked out by a calculation that is so complicated that no one can tell you how it is done.

However it is definitely NOT done by just excluding years during which you were contracted out of SERPS from your number of qualifying years.

[KittenKong]

I signed up for a Nationwide IoM account.

So now I just have to wait to hear from them and HMRC on how to proceed.

They are part of the UK clearing system and so you will be able to make online transfers for your NI contributions by FPS/BACS without any trouble, but I dont think they do direct debits so it will be up to you to arrange the payment as needed. This is easily done online.

You can fund your Nationwide account from your Kasikorn account and I suggest that you do so yearly so as to minimise costs.

[sometimewoodworker]

I signed up for a Nationwide IoM account.

So now I just have to wait to hear from them and HMRC on how to proceed.

They are part of the UK clearing system and so you will be able to make online transfers for your NI contributions by FPS/BACS without any trouble, but I dont think they do direct debits so it will be up to you to arrange the payment as needed. This is easily done online.

You can fund your Nationwide account from your Kasikorn account and I suggest that you do so yearly so as to minimise costs.

NationwideInternational do direct debits. I have just set one up with them, this is an incoming debit so I can not guarantee that outgoing debits are OK however it is a strong indication that they are.

[sometimewoodworker]

I don't agree with your reading of the effect of SERPS on the new pension

Please show where it states that 35 qualifying years of basic contributions for a person retiring after April 6th 2016 will NOT get the full £155.65 per week.

Payments into SERPS can get you more than the basic pension

STWW, I believe the links below discuss this in detail. The issue is whether you have fully contributed to SERPS / S2P.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2654291/REVEALED-How-6-10-wont-155-week-state-pension.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/11608210/The-new-flat-rate-pension-where-everybody-gets-different-amounts.html

http://m.citywire.co.uk/money/contracted-out-watch-out-for-your-state-pension/a784865

Sorry no you are talking about people who were contract out of NI pension contributions.

I am correct in stating that if you have 35 qualifying years you WILL get the full pension.

Contracted out years are NOT qualifying year, as you contracted out of paying pension contributions.

When you decided to contract out of the state pension payments you chose an option that you felt gave you a better payment.

So once again if you have paid 35 years of national insurance (pension contributions) YOU WILL GET THE FULL NEW PENSION

Your links are not relevant to people who have 35 qualifying years

People who contracted out have a completely different set of conditions.

You are quite wrong about this. Years that you were contracted out of SERPS DO count as qualifying years, and are listed as qualifying years in your NI contributions statement. You still paid into the NI system during those years, but at a reduced rate, around 10% not 12%.

I know this to be a fact since I was contracted out of SERPS for ten years, asked for a statement of NI contributions last year, and was sent a list of every year's contributions since the 1970's. All my contracted out of SERPS years are listed as "qualifying years " on that statement.

What IS true is that contracted out of SERPS years are taken into account when calculating your final pension, and a sum is deducted , worked out by a calculation that is so complicated that no one can tell you how it is done.

However it is definitely NOT done by just excluding years during which you were contracted out of SERPS from your number of qualifying years.

I stand corrected regarding SERPS

However The statement was

After 6 April this year, you will have to have 35 years of contributions AND have paid IN FULL into SERPS or similar to get the £155 per week. Any shortfall in payments to this 2nd pension will result in a reduced payment, even if you have 35 years or more of class 1 contributions. Many people did not contribute to this 2nd pension, and hence won't get the new full amount.

This statement is wrong if you were not contracted out YOU WILL GET THE FULL PENSION with 35 years and NO payments to a 2nd pension (SERPS)

Please show where it states that 35 standard (as in not contracted out) qualifying years of basic contributions for a person retiring after April 6th 2016 will NOT get the full £155.65 per week.

You have just said that contracted out years do not count in the same way as standard years.

I have not been talking about people who contracted out I have been talking about people who made full NI payments in the UK or voluntary payments (mostly from outside the UK)

I have never been contracted out though I had an opportunity to do so. I choose not to contract out as I didn't understand the system. This may have been a good choice, I don't know.

Anyone who has been contracted out may have (in hindsight) made a poor choice, I don't know it doesn't affect me. From what I've read, it doesn't affect the OP either

[partington]

You are quite wrong about this. Years that you were contracted out of SERPS DO count as qualifying years, and are listed as qualifying years in your NI contributions statement. You still paid into the NI system during those years, but at a reduced rate, around 10% not 12%.

I know this to be a fact since I was contracted out of SERPS for ten years, asked for a statement of NI contributions last year, and was sent a list of every year's contributions since the 1970's. All my contracted out of SERPS years are listed as "qualifying years " on that statement.

What IS true is that contracted out of SERPS years are taken into account when calculating your final pension, and a sum is deducted , worked out by a calculation that is so complicated that no one can tell you how it is done.

However it is definitely NOT done by just excluding years during which you were contracted out of SERPS from your number of qualifying years.

I stand corrected regarding SERPS

However The statement was

After 6 April this year, you will have to have 35 years of contributions AND have paid IN FULL into SERPS or similar to get the £155 per week. Any shortfall in payments to this 2nd pension will result in a reduced payment, even if you have 35 years or more of class 1 contributions. Many people did not contribute to this 2nd pension, and hence won't get the new full amount.

This statement is wrong if you were not contracted out YOU WILL GET THE FULL PENSION with 35 years and NO payments to a 2nd pension (SERPS)

Please show where it states that 35 standard (as in not contracted out) qualifying years of basic contributions for a person retiring after April 6th 2016 will NOT get the full £155.65 per week.

You have just said that contracted out years do not count in the same way as standard years.

I have not been talking about people who contracted out I have been talking about people who made full NI payments in the UK or voluntary payments (mostly from outside the UK)

I have never been contracted out though I had an opportunity to do so. I choose not to contract out as I didn't understand the system. This may have been a good choice, I don't know.

Anyone who has been contracted out may have (in hindsight) made a poor choice, I don't know it doesn't affect me. From what I've read, it doesn't affect the OP either

Contracting out actually means "contracting out of SERPS". If you were not contracted out then you paid into SERPS or its equivalent-it had several different names. You will get the full pension because you paid into SERPS -the second pension system- even though you don't probably realise that you were doing it.

​This refers to employment in the UK - I don't know what NI contributions from abroad count as.

[KittenKong]

They are part of the UK clearing system and so you will be able to make online transfers for your NI contributions by FPS/BACS without any trouble, but I dont think they do direct debits so it will be up to you to arrange the payment as needed. This is easily done online.

You can fund your Nationwide account from your Kasikorn account and I suggest that you do so yearly so as to minimise costs.

NationwideInternational do direct debits. I have just set one up with them, this is an incoming debit so I can not guarantee that outgoing debits are OK however it is a strong indication that they are.

What is an "incoming direct debit"?

Direct debits can only be arranged by organisations who have an arrangement with their bank and have agreed to follow the rules about direct debits: http://www.directdebit.co.uk

You can allow an organisation to make a direct debit from your account but you cannot instigate one yourself. Nor can you receive one from anyone else unless you have suitable status with your bank (which as an individual you wont have).

Maybe you are talking about standing orders, or direct credits?

Either way, the OP will probably be better off paying his contributions yearly by FPS as that way he can keep the interest on the money.

[sometimewoodworker]

They are part of the UK clearing system and so you will be able to make online transfers for your NI contributions by FPS/BACS without any trouble, but I dont think they do direct debits so it will be up to you to arrange the payment as needed. This is easily done online.

You can fund your Nationwide account from your Kasikorn account and I suggest that you do so yearly so as to minimise costs.

NationwideInternational do direct debits. I have just set one up with them, this is an incoming debit so I can not guarantee that outgoing debits are OK however it is a strong indication that they are.

What is an "incoming direct debit"?

Direct debits can only be arranged by organisations who have an arrangement with their bank and have agreed to follow the rules about direct debits: http://www.directdebit.co.uk

You can allow an organisation to make a direct debit from your account but you cannot instigate one yourself. Nor can you receive one from anyone else unless you have suitable status with your bank (which as an individual you wont have).

Maybe you are talking about standing orders, or direct credits?

Either way, the OP will probably be better off paying his contributions yearly by FPS as that way he can keep the interest on the money.

I can instigate a direct debit with NationwideInternational drawing money from my UK bank account. So it seems that your information is a little out of date. And yes it is a direct debit not a standing order and as it is drawing money into the account it is not a direct credit.

However the point is that NationwideInternational is integrated into the UK banking system to the extent that direct debits are available in some cases, so maybe they are available in all cases.

The OP has that option if he wants it.