Missing National Insurance Contributions

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

While doing my returns I was suddenly worried I had missed some NI contributions in the time I had between PAYE and Self Employed freelance work.
Turns out I didn't . . . . but I do have three years missing in 92, 95 and 96 . . . and I am not sure why. A couple of the years are only missing some payments but one is the entire year.

I had no idea. These are obviously over six years ago now so I can't top them up. . . what will this mean for me in the future? What are the actual consequences of missed years? I can't see anything about it on the government pages I am looking at.

 

[Pickman's model]

While doing my returns I was suddenly worried I had missed some NI contributions in the time I had between PAYE and Self Employed freelance work.
Turns out I didn't . . . . but I do have three years missing in 92, 95 and 96 . . . and I am not sure why. A couple of the years are only missing some payments but one is the entire year.

I had no idea. These are obviously over six years ago now so I can't top them up. . . what will this mean for me in the future? What are the actual consequences of missed years? I can't see anything about it on the government pages I am looking at.

You can see the pension you'll get on the gov.uk site

 

[moochedit]

While doing my returns I was suddenly worried I had missed some NI contributions in the time I had between PAYE and Self Employed freelance work.
Turns out I didn't . . . . but I do have three years missing in 92, 95 and 96 . . . and I am not sure why. A couple of the years are only missing some payments but one is the entire year.

I had no idea. These are obviously over six years ago now so I can't top them up. . . what will this mean for me in the future? What are the actual consequences of missed years? I can't see anything about it on the government pages I am looking at.

At uni?

 

[Elpenor]

While doing my returns I was suddenly worried I had missed some NI contributions in the time I had between PAYE and Self Employed freelance work.
Turns out I didn't . . . . but I do have three years missing in 92, 95 and 96 . . . and I am not sure why. A couple of the years are only missing some payments but one is the entire year.

I had no idea. These are obviously over six years ago now so I can't top them up. . . what will this mean for me in the future? What are the actual consequences of missed years? I can't see anything about it on the government pages I am looking at.

The two questions I have

How old were you in these years?

How much did you earn in these years?

But tbh as long as you’re going to get 35 years of contributions then you don’t need to worry

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

At uni?

Maybe, but wouldn't the fact that I was in full time education negate the missed NI contributions?

 

[Elpenor]

Maybe, but wouldn't the fact that I was in full time education negate the missed NI contributions?

I believe it only covers up to school leaving age which is / was 18

I know I show as having NI contributions for aged 16-18 when in school but not for 18-21 when at Uni.

 

[moochedit]

Maybe, but wouldn't the fact that I was in full time education negate the missed NI contributions?

on mine the 16 to 18 at FE college counts as full year (i believe it doesn't anymore for people born after a certain date) but my 3 uni years show as missing years.

 

[not henry]

if you signed on you are credited with an NI contribution

 

[Glitter]

You need 35 years. So provided you have enough working time left to get 35 years of full contributions you’re fine.

 

[moochedit]

if you signed on you are credited with an NI contribution

Yes my years i was on dole count. But my years at uni i couldn't sign on so don't count.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Yeah I doubt missing 3 years matters much unless you’re planning on retiring really early.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

The two questions I have

How old were you in these years?

How much did you earn in these years?

But tbh as long as you’re going to get 35 years of contributions then you don’t need to worry

Why 35 years?
I was roughly 19,22,23
I'm guessing at 19 I had finished two years or technical college and maybe had not signed on for a bit? (doesn't sound like me). I think maybe around 23/24 I had finished uni but again, I would have immediately signed on . . . I would have needed the housing benefit and money to live on.
I can't see how I would have been able to survive a year without working or signing on.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Ah ha!
So maybe I have my Uni dates wrong in my head and the missing years are two years of Uni and somehow the second year of two years at technical college when I was 18??

But the headline is that I don't have to worry about this right?

 

[alex_]

Why 35 years?
I was roughly 19,22,23
I'm guessing at 19 I had finished two years or technical college and maybe had not signed on for a bit? (doesn't sound like me). I think maybe around 23/24 I had finished uni but again, I would have immediately signed on . . . I would have needed the housing benefit and money to live on.
I can't see how I would have been able to survive a year without working or signing on.

Once you do 35 years you hit the maximum, so your pension isn’t different if you do 35 years contributions or 40.

The pension calculator will tell you how many more years you need.

 

[Glitter]

Why 35 years?
I was roughly 19,22,23
I'm guessing at 19 I had finished two years or technical college and maybe had not signed on for a bit? (doesn't sound like me). I think maybe around 23/24 I had finished uni but again, I would have immediately signed on . . . I would have needed the housing benefit and money to live on.
I can't see how I would have been able to survive a year without working or signing on.

Student Loan?

35 years is the threshold, don’t know why.

 

[Looby]

I’ve looked at this recently too.
I’ve got part years missing from uni the first time and then from a few years ago when I was a student again but working so I’m going to try and find those P60s as I think I earned enough.

If you go back to the page you were on to look at the gaps it tells you how many years you still need.

I’m sure mine says 24 even though I still have 20 odd.

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

A little while back, when I was made redundant the last time, I checked my NI contributions. All seemed OK. I had more than the 30 years which you needed at that time, indeed I had just over 35 years. Then they changed the rules. Because some of my years had been contracted out I no longer had enough NI for the full pension. And for a couple of years I couldn't buy any extra NI. So for a while there was nothing I could do.

Eventually it became possible. BUT they could change the rules any time they feel like it. So be warned.

 

[Pickman's model]

i looked again today and if i never work again i'd get £149/wk. but if i add another 7 years then i'll get £185/wk

 

[Magnus McGinty]

i looked again today and if i never work again i'd get £149/wk. but if i add another 7 years then i'll get £185/wk

Where do you go to check?

 

[Pickman's model]

Where do you go to check?

Check your State Pension forecast

Find out how much State Pension you could get (your forecast), when you could get it and how you could increase it

www.gov.uk

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Ta.

 

[smmudge]

Is urban having a bit of a financial planning crisis at the moment haha. A few years won't harm, you'll have plenty of time to make it up to the max, don't worry. It's people (let's be honest mostly women) who need to take breaks or earn under the threshold for a while who will struggle to make them all up.

Where I live you need 40 years to get the max, and can't claim it til 70! And they can still legally put a forced retirement age in a work contract, which is usually 65, so 5 years before you can even claim your states pension lol.

But I'll likely be back before then anyway.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Before my current job I had 10 years where it was all pretty precarious with periods of unemployment that were brief enough that I didn't claim for etc. If I work til I'm 65 it becomes a moot point but I'd rather not if at all possible.

 

[Hollis]

I really don't get my record as it says I just have one year to contribute to get the maximum pension - but looking back through the record is shows me having a full years of contributions for when I was still at secondary school and in the sixth form..

 

[cesare]

Thanks to this thread I checked this again and now it's showing that I'm already at max contributions. They've made a mistake though, I need to look into it.

 

[smmudge]

I really don't get my record as it says I just have one year to contribute to get the maximum pension - but looking back through the record is shows me having a full years of contributions for when I was still at secondary school and in the sixth form..

Yes they were called "starting credits" ie given in the tax year you turned 16 and 2 more after, so you didn't lose out if you stayed in education 16-18. Scrapped in 2010.

 

[Hollis]

Excellent!

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

My wife says for her it's 30 years of contributions. Is it different for girls? If not she is going to be pretty upset.
She is not from the UK so getting to 35 years is going to take too long.

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

My wife says for her it's 30 years of contributions. Is it different for girls? If not she is going to be pretty upset.
She is not from the UK so getting to 35 years is going to take too long.

It used to be 30 years for everyone. But they changed it some while ago. If she can, it's worth buying back extra years of NI. I spent £3,000 buying back some 3 and a bit years (don't ask where the money came from) and it'll have paid for itself after 3 years.

 

[platinumsage]

Be very sure what you're doing before forking out for extra years, because it could be money down the drain if those extra years end up proving uneccessary by the time you reach pension age.