Backpaying UK Class 2 NIc's

[Seasider4374]

Hi,

Firstly big thanks to Ben for the site, and helping me recently via another online site to get my lost password changed! Now having gained access again I will be reading lots, asking lots, and when in a qualified position, be answering as much as I can.

My first query is about backpaying missing/incomplete UK NIc's. I applied for this ability thanks to info on the wiki/forum when I saw it in March 2023, and the Gov.UK website suggests I should have received a response last week. However my online application has very recently changed to "in progress" and so I'll wait a few more days/weeks before phoning to see where my application is.

My query today is about how many years to pay in full? I think I read on these forums that 35 years of contribution leads to a full UK pension. Looking at my government account (if I am successful in my bid to back, and future, pay missing years) I will be able to make 40 years' of payments by the time I reach 67.

And so, should this be the case, can I pick and choose which years to top-up, and which to not?

To give examples, from My Government Portal page the following figures are given;
To top up my tax year 2006 (starting Apr 2006~) I only need pay £47.55.
To top up each of the years 2015-2019 would require £824.20 each year.
To top up last year's would require £179.40.

So in order to reach my 35 year requirement can I select to pay 2006, but ignore years 2015-2019, and pay everything from last year onwards?
Or do any 5years' worth of non-payments need to be at the front, or end, of my possible payments period. Or do I just need to pay all 40years' worth?

I'm certainly not opposed to paying all 40 years' as from my calculations that would mean a total payment from now of around £14k needed, in order to secure £11k (at current rates) yearly UK pension...

However if I could save the 5 * £824 that's nearly equivalent to my iDeCo payments for a year...

[RetireJapan]

One factor I weigh quite heavily is the possibility of future governments removing the ability to pay voluntary contributions from abroad. If that were to happen, paying as much as possible as soon as possible might be a good idea.

It is also likely that future contributions will be more expensive.

[Seasider4374]

I do agree that premiums will go up. Based on info from last year to this NIc's havee risen by 9.5% and I'd based my (worst case?) figures on that increase occuring every year. Doing so, basically means my years 2015-2019, will amount to close to the same as my final five years and so your point to lock payments in asap seems prudent.

Perhaps the bigger question is how long the triple lock can remain, or what changes can be expected...

[beanhead]

Looks like they have decided some years are Class 2 and others are Class 3.

It is all voluntary, so you can pick and choose which years to pay. Just be careful to communicate again and again with HMRC which years you are paying, as they sometimes mis-allocate payments or don't allocate them at all.

[Beaglehound]

Looks like you will be class 2 ongoing, given they want class 2 rates for last year. As others have said, you can pick and choose which years to backpay. So definitely the cheaper years but the others is a judgement call. If it is confirmed you have to pay Class 2 and you have enough future years left to reach 35 years, I personally wouldn't be backpaying the £800-plus ones. Bear in mind that there is no benefit to paying more than 35 years for the majority of people.

[smalldog]

I paid some 10+ years worth of voluntary class 2 contributions a few months back. Of course no update in my government gateway account despite the 8 week deadline for the account to be updated having long since passed.

I’m not really worried however - I have total faith in the UK government being unable to do this within their own provided deadline. I have another 25+ years until retirement so they have time to update my file.

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

I paid some 10+ years worth of voluntary class 2 contributions a few months back. Of course no update in my government gateway account despite the 8 week deadline for the account to be updated having long since passed.

I’m not really worried however - I have total faith in the UK government being unable to do this within their own provided deadline. I have another 25+ years until retirement so they have time to update my file.

I have total faith in the UK government......

[beanhead]

I’m not really worried however - I have total faith in the UK government being unable to do this within their own provided deadline. I have another 25+ years until retirement so they have time to update my file.

They have a huge backlog of work, it seems.
They also sometimes make administrative errors, so be prepared to chase them.

[Moneymatters]

Hi,

Firstly big thanks to Ben for the site, and helping me recently via another online site to get my lost password changed! Now having gained access again I will be reading lots, asking lots, and when in a qualified position, be answering as much as I can.

My first query is about backpaying missing/incomplete UK NIc's. I applied for this ability thanks to info on the wiki/forum when I saw it in March 2023, and the Gov.UK website suggests I should have received a response last week. However my online application has very recently changed to "in progress" and so I'll wait a few more days/weeks before phoning to see where my application is.

As you back pay, please look closely at the number of years the HMRC site says you need to pay to get the full pension. In my case the total is actually 37 but I’m sure that’s because I was “contracted out” of the state earning related pension for a while whilst working the UK.
Whilst there is no incentive to pay too many qualifying years you want to avoid under paying.

[deezy]

I paid some 10+ years worth of voluntary class 2 contributions a few months back. Of course no update in my government gateway account despite the 8 week deadline for the account to be updated having long since passed.

After four months of my account not being updated after paying back the 10 years I rang them up. I was told that for the dates from 2006-2016 it had to be updated manually year by year by someone and could end up being forgotten about, whereas years after that would be automatically updated.They then updated them for me then and there -it took about 20 minutes.