UK State Pension newbie

[Beaglehound]

Depending on your age, you may be able to get to the 35 years anyway, without making full payments of those 11 years. It may cost you a few quid extra to pay in at current / future rates than that rate of £3.05 per week. The difference will be minimal, in the grand scheme of things.

I think the risk of future governments eliminating voluntary payments from abroad tips the scales in favour of backpaying while you can. Then all you need to do is remember to cancel your payments once you reach full eligibility.

Especially with the poster having been accepted for Class 2s.

I don’t think the risk of them eliminating all voluntary payments from overseas is huge, but the risk of class 2s disappearing is substantial.

[beanhead]

I think the risk of future governments eliminating voluntary payments from abroad tips the scales in favour of backpaying while you can. Then all you need to do is remember to cancel your payments once you reach full eligibility.

Good point.

[Whiterose]

Depending on your age, you may be able to get to the 35 years anyway, without making full payments of those 11 years. It may cost you a few quid extra to pay in at current / future rates than that rate of £3.05 per week. The difference will be minimal, in the grand scheme of things.

I think the risk of future governments eliminating voluntary payments from abroad tips the scales in favour of backpaying while you can. Then all you need to do is remember to cancel your payments once you reach full eligibility.

Thank for these responses! I decided it was worth the short term pain to get the money together and pay up before April, when the mysterious penalty fee of an unknown amount would begin to apply. So I sent the loot to HMRC today. I know future me will be thankful for it!

[avocadotoast]

My backdated payments are finally reflected on the Govt. website! Here's my timeline:

- Sent application for class 2 payments early Sept 2021
- Received acceptance letter mid-Dec 2021
- Made voluntary payment (for class 2 years) late Dec 2021, followed by a phone call to let them know
- Govt gateway updated to reflect payments mid-Apr 2022

Overall it was a fairly painless process. Only one letter and one phone call, but took 7 months to be fully realised

Thanks to all for the help!

[cru42]

Hello,

Long time lurker but first time poster.
Learned lots here - thank you.

I tried logging onto my gov.uk account last night to check my pension info.
However, a system message warned me that my User-ID was being reset since I had last logged on during summer 2019.
It then allocated me a new user-ID but I got stumped at the 2 out of 3 required verification checks (I don't think I had to do this when I set it up 3+ years ago.)

I have a UK passport, but the credit check option requires a UK post code to proceed, and my UK driving license is a paper version from the late 80s.
Exchanging the paper version for a plastic one doesn't seem possible as I am not "a resident of Great Britain" ( I was aeons ago, until I moved to Japan.) https://www.gov.uk/exchange-paper-driving-licence

I can still snail mail and call the overseas pensions folks but I'm kicking myself for not logging in more often...

[RetireJapan]

However, a system message warned me that my User-ID was being reset since I had last logged on during summer 2019.

Welcome to the forum!

Yikes, that sounds bad. I think I've been lucky enough to have logged in randomly at least 1-2 times a year, so my account is still active. Might have to set some reminders in my calendar...

[beanhead]

I can still snail mail and call the overseas pensions folks but I'm kicking myself for not logging in more often...

The new authentication processes are annoying. Make it almost impossible to set up a new account for most people outside the UK.
Fortunately, the snail mail and telephone routes are relatively painless. I get them to send me an updated summary once a year.