UK state pension

I got my letter this week confirming that I can pay 17 years at class 2 rate to supplement the 8 years I already have for working in UK between 2001 and 2005.

Posted my application in the middle of May 2023.

My online record hasn't yet updated. In fact, it says my application is still "in progress".

Delighted!

Where can you see the online records? Is it where you check your pension contributions on the HMRC website??

Yep. There's a "Check Progress" option in the dropdown menu that shows the current status of your application (either "In Progress" or "Completed")

Yep, that's correct. It says In Progress, and all my missing years are showing at the higher rate online, but lower rate in the letter. Guess it will update in the coming weeks. I won't be making the payment until the end of the year anyway.

Hopefully you get your letter shortly.

Thanks 👍

For anyone interested in applying to pay NI, the form is now fully online.

Would anyone know whether it's worth chancing your arm in applying for Class 2 NICs? I have 12 qualifying years in the UK, but I began working for an Irish operation for around a year before I left the UK. I think that puts me in the class 3 slot, but maybe there's a fudge possible.

If I only qualify for Class 3 NICs, is it still a no brainer to pay in to them? Think it'll cost me something like £18k to bring me up from 12 years to the full allocation.

If you stopped working for the UK company and started working for the Irish one. Do you know the date, that's the date you technically left the UK workforce and that's the date I would be using for the application.

A good answer to my question I asked on the HMRC website a few months ago. Might help someone understand the requirements better.

Hi Rob,

Please see information below, which explains what is meant by ‘immediately before leaving’.

To pay voluntary Class 2 NICs you must meet the following conditions (in addition to those required to pay Class 3 NICs)

• immediately before you last left the United Kingdom (UK), you were ordinarily an employed earner, or a self-employed earner or seeking work (unemployed and claiming benefit counts as ordinarily employed) and

• be either employed or self-employed abroad

When interpreting the wording in the first bullet point we will be looking for a close relationship between your overall employment record in the UK, and the date you went abroad. We will be looking at your history of contributing to the UK Social Security scheme over a period of time.

‘Ordinarily’, in its most literal form means ‘normally’ or ‘most of the time’. So when read in conjunction with ‘immediately before’, we need to consider your employment or self-employment record as a whole in order to establish your work pattern up to the time that you left the UK.

If you are eligible to pay at the class 2 rate, but you have breaks in your employment or self-employment abroad, we would need to know the exact dates of your employment or self-employment, and you would only be eligible to pay at the class 2 rate for the periods you were working. The periods in between would be quoted at the class 3 rate.

You will need to complete the CF83 application form to be considered for either rate. I would suggest you enclose a covering letter providing exact dates of employment / self-employment abroad. The application form can be found on the GOV.UK website by searching for NI38. Please see the following link:

Maybe a stupid question, but is there any equivalent mechanism currently to buy missing contributions to the Irish system?

My wife should be able to apply for this, however she's doesn't have any suitable ID with her maiden name on it, so the online ID recognition thing does not work.

Any solutions ?

She's contracted them. Maybe they will accept marriage cert etc etc. But time is passing quickly and I wonder if she'll run out of time to apply.

LATE reply-TOO late

The 2 pensions are seperate.If you can pay credits here,do it

You need 10 years minimum national insurance contributions under the new pension scheme in the UK.The "new" pension is for people who reach retirement age after April 2016.Not sure of the date in 2016

Yes,I would advise anyone who worked in the UK for whatever length of time to apply and see what happens

A lot more penny pinching in the Republic from what I've heard and dragging out queries over months/years.