UK state pension

Useful if people are still waiting anything from HMRC on this.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c99n1550510o

My reading of this is that as long as you get your request submitted before the April deadline - they'll allow opportunity for allocation / fixing gaps etc.

I have a question that may already have been answered, apologies if so: To complete the online process a British ID is necessary, what form do I download to submit by post for Irish people who do not have British ID docs?

The euro is strong against pound sterling at the moment, if anybody is sending payments. Sent mine this morning, will give them a ring next week to allocate them.

Might buy some sterling for the 2024-2025 year now as well.

Yeah probably, seems to be lately with all the tariff talk.

Thanks for the graph 👍 Yeah I had bought some back last year and needed a bit more to finalise payment. It has been sitting in my wise account earning 4.0% interest. There was no point sending it months in advance, for it to be sitting in the HMRC account. I think a month from the deadline is fine.

Perhaps check you had all the correct details on the bank transfer.

I made 2 payments so far ,one in November one in February both confirmed as received a week later but was told it can take up to a year to allocate.

I wouldn't worry to much at moment , now to April will be the busiest time for them but if your like me I couldn't wait till April ito get confirmation , I would ring every week until they confirm they have received payment just for my piece of mind, I know it's a pain on hold for up to a hour.

she said she couldn’t allocate without confirmation it was received 😬. I have paid for all years from 2006 so I’m hoping it should be straight forward fo allocate 🙏. It was sent from Nat West Account and the account number stated it was a verified account. But I’m still nervous until I get confirmation it’s there. It doesn’t do my ocd any good!!

Definitely not to late for payments, I just paid by bank transfer in the notes you can add with payment I just added the years to allocate. Then a few days later rang them to see if they received payment.

I paid via Revolut Sterling account and was able to ring and get the monies assigned to my earliest years two days later. No way is it too late.

Yeah definitely work it out and make sure it's the best option. Just looking at your eligible contributions on the 2023-2024 there are 5 at class 3 which means they think you are not working for those 5 weeks (I think) just check that and for going forward that's it class 2 you will be on.

@danoriordan1402 You have a lot there so definitely worth it for a full pension .

Just calculate if working and continuing to pay until , is it 67 ? ..when you retire.Because once you retire here in Ireland it will be class 3 s which at present are £907.40 pa .

If you can make up your back log now with the cheaper options , the maximum you can have is 35 years , so pick the years and let them know exactly. I paid all but a few class 3s which were in the middle when I was off looking after my children . I am still ruminating as to whether it is worth paying those or not because the return will be about 2.5years for them

If I had the money I would pay it all no doubt at all !

Thanks RCSATELLITES for those links.Very clear messages in them

Is there really something to ruminate? 2.5 year payback from state pension age and then you're on the pigs back for however long you can have. It's a no brainer for me. Between the Irish and UK state pensions I won't need to generate much cash elsewhere from that age.

You are right, you can pay voluntary contributions for the past 6 years. The deadline is 5 April each year.

For example, you have until 5 April 2030 to make up for gaps for the tax year 2023 to 2024.

Every year for the next 7 years you will owe class 2 or class 3, (if you need to pay to get the 35 years)

I would pay them up every year, as letting it build up for a few years might not be the best move.