UK State Pension HMRC Site - Forecast required years calculation

[kuma]

Per the HMRC site, my State Pension estimate as of April 5th 2021 is based on:
"29 years of full contributions"

It also shows a "Forecast if you contribute another 8 years before 5 April 20xx" (Exact year redacted so you can't see I'm in my 50's..)
This forecast is the max so that's good.

But the maths leaves me scratching my head.

29 + 8 = 37

I thought you only need 35 years for the full pension. What am I missing?

All my 29 years show as full...

Did this ever get resolved? Or still an unexplained anomaly?

35 qualifying years gives entitlement to the full pension for those entirely under the new state pension rules (ie national insurance record begins in 2016 or late).

The following page gives info about how individual circumstances might affect things for people (like most/all of us on this forum) whose NI record began prior to the 2016 changes: https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/how-its-calculated

A link within that link provides a bit more detail (3b in particular): https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -explained

Any periods of being 'contracted out' could account for 'extra' qualifying years being required to gain the full pension.

[Moneymatters]

All my 29 years show as full...

Did this ever get resolved? Or still an unexplained anomaly?

…..
Any periods of being 'contracted out' could account for 'extra' qualifying years being required to gain the full pension.

I just logged in again and now I can see somewhere it states “In the past you were contracted out of the additional state pension.”.
I think someone previously alluded to this on another thread so I was kinda my working assumption.

There is nothing to show how many years I was contracted out for or which years they were.

Anyway, I’m on class 2 and I’ve got lots of time to catch up those 2 extra years they want. It’s interesting how contracting out of an additional earnings related pension can affect entitlement to the full basic state pension. But I’m not going to lose sleep over that.

I don’t recall seeing a “You were contracted out” section previously. So wonder if that’s a more recent bit of added “functionality”(being kinda generous with that term).
It does go on to tell me the estimated value of that COPE amount that will have been diverted to my private pension and that it will either form part of the total estimated pension or be broken out and itemized. It’s never been broken out on the estimates I’ve had so far.

Thanks for your post. Was super helpful!

[Roger Van Zant]

My old man paid in way more than 35 years; more like 45. His monthly state pension is now more than the "max" amount. No idea how he managed this though!

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

My old man paid in way more than 35 years; more like 45. His monthly state pension is now more than the "max" amount. No idea how he managed this though!

It could through SERPS- state earnings related pension scheme, which was available from the mid 70s to 2010. It has been wound up and been amalgamated with the state pension. The new state pension is actually more generous, but you can only claim from an older age than the old state pension.

[kuma]

All my 29 years show as full...

Did this ever get resolved? Or still an unexplained anomaly?

…..
Any periods of being 'contracted out' could account for 'extra' qualifying years being required to gain the full pension.

I just logged in again and now I can see somewhere it states “In the past you were contracted out of the additional state pension.”.
I think someone previously alluded to this on another thread so I was kinda my working assumption.

There is nothing to show how many years I was contracted out for or which years they were.

Anyway, I’m on class 2 and I’ve got lots of time to catch up those 2 extra years they want. It’s interesting how contracting out of an additional earnings related pension can affect entitlement to the full basic state pension. But I’m not going to lose sleep over that.

I don’t recall seeing a “You were contracted out” section previously. So wonder if that’s a more recent bit of added “functionality”(being kinda generous with that term).
It does go on to tell me the estimated value of that COPE amount that will have been diverted to my private pension and that it will either form part of the total estimated pension or be broken out and itemized. It’s never been broken out on the estimates I’ve had so far.

Thanks for your post. Was super helpful!

Glad there's a sensible explanation for the 37 years.

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/United_Kingd ... te_Pension has been updated to include clearer info about the 35 years / full pension not being applicable to all.