National Insurance Contributions

[Tra]

Hello Everybody!  I hope you've all had a terrific Easter break no matter where you are  

Well, like a few of us...I'm still here in Australia!...what a funny ol' year 2020 was...I was supposed to leave Australia in July last year...COVID put my plans on hold, as it did for many...

But...

I'm still going to move back to the UK...eventually!

I've had a search on the Site for topping up National Insurance (I've been away for many years) but I've not come across the information I need...can anyone tell me what I need to do to make contact and enquire about the steps involved?

Thanks for reading!

[tea4too]

If you've not already done so the first step is to check your record - what you've already paid and any credits you may have received. If there are gaps in your records it may or may not affect your final Retirement Pension entitlement as some years don't count towards your pension. The government website is a useful place to start and does provide some contact details. T x 

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

[Sloth]

Once you've checked your contribution record as advised by tea4too, it would be worthwhile calling the Future Pensions Centre to determine which pre-2016 years it would be worth you paying for to produce an uplift in your pension entitlement. The State Pension scheme changed in 2016, and if you have pre-2016 contributions on record you are under the transitional rules, and the practical effect of that is that your contribution record will show all gaps that you can pay to fill, but some of those might not produce any improvement.

It is much cheaper to make class 2 contributions if you are eligible (c£158 vs c£780 p.a.). You will need to fill in an NI38/CF83: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-security-abroad-ni38

https://www.gov.uk/future-pension-centre

You have until 5 April 2023 to pay voluntary contributions to make up for gaps between April 2006 and April 2016:   https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/deadlines

Edited April 6, 2021 by Sloth

[RoundInCircles]

On 05/04/2021 at 18:38, tea4too said:

If you've not already done so the first step is to check your record - what you've already paid and any credits you may have received. If there are gaps in your records it may or may not affect your final Retirement Pension entitlement as some years don't count towards your pension. The government website is a useful place to start and does provide some contact details. T x 

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

Thank you!  And my apologies for not thanking you sooner! 

[RoundInCircles]

On 06/04/2021 at 11:24, Sloth said:

Once you've checked your contribution record as advised by tea4too, it would be worthwhile calling the Future Pensions Centre to determine which pre-2016 years it would be worth you paying for to produce an uplift in your pension entitlement. The State Pension scheme changed in 2016, and if you have pre-2016 contributions on record you are under the transitional rules, and the practical effect of that is that your contribution record will show all gaps that you can pay to fill, but some of those might not produce any improvement.

It is much cheaper to make class 2 contributions if you are eligible (c£158 vs c£780 p.a.). You will need to fill in an NI38/CF83: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-security-abroad-ni38

https://www.gov.uk/future-pension-centre

You have until 5 April 2023 to pay voluntary contributions to make up for gaps between April 2006 and April 2016:   https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/deadlines

Thank you!  And I'm so very sorry for not thanking you sooner!