UK Pension & Voluntary Payments Questions

[CluelessToshika]

FWIW I submitted CF83 online in January and received a letter from HMRC last week confirming what I need to pay, though the process on actually paying is as clear as mud. It starts off:

"Before paying any shortfall, it is important to find out if your state pension will increase once you've paid voluntary National Insurance contributions (NICs). When you've paid the shortfall, please call the Future Pensions Centre to find out which tax year will count towards your state pension

but later also says:

Due to changes in the law, you need the Pension Service to confirm whether your State Pension will increase if you pay any shortfall

So anyway I called the "Future Pensions Centre" [*], and actually got through and they helpfully confirmed that yes, my pension will increase if I pay the shortfall (which I knew already because why else I am I doing this?...), and informed me (incorrectly, as I suspected) I'd need an 18 (?) digit reference code to make the payment with, and then they offered put me through to HMRC, which by some miracle actually happened, and HMRC said I need to use the code made up of NI number and name (details on gov.uk somewhere), and specifically:

- I need to make separate payments for Class 2 and Class 3
- Class 3 payments will take up to 8 weeks to be processed
- Class 2 payments can take up to a year to be processed
- as long as they get the payment(s) before April 5th, they will be credited
- they made a note in my file that I have informed them I am intending to make the payments

[*] I called using Skype (need to burn through the remaining credit), which basically worked fine, however sometimes the system seems to "freeze" (minutes of silence), so it took a couple of goes before getting to the muzak point; first time I got through to an operator after about 20 minutes but they couldn't hear me; second time also took about 20 minutes.

Hope this info is of use to anyone in the same situation.

[CluelessToshika]

Side note - the reason why I'm faffing about with this so close to the deadline is because I read that 3 qualifying years of NICs are needed, and as I left the UK when I was 18, I assumed I wouldn't have those, *but* I did have a part-time supermarket job and it seems that even though I only had it for a little over two years, it counts as 3 qualifying years.

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

Side note - the reason why I'm faffing about with this so close to the deadline is because I read that 3 qualifying years of NICs are needed, and as I left the UK when I was 18, I assumed I wouldn't have those, *but* I did have a part-time supermarket job and it seems that even though I only had it for a little over two years, it counts as 3 qualifying years.

16-18 years old, if you are in full time education and are not paying national insurance through work count towards your national insurance record for the 35 years.

[kuma]

Thanks for your clear and interesting account of interactions with HMRC on this. (Ditto for other recent posters.) Very useful to have up-to-date accounts. And good luck getting it all sorted.

Side note - the reason why I'm faffing about with this so close to the deadline is because I read that 3 qualifying years of NICs are needed, and as I left the UK when I was 18, I assumed I wouldn't have those, *but* I did have a part-time supermarket job and it seems that even though I only had it for a little over two years, it counts as 3 qualifying years.

The wiki states the eligibility criteria for Class 2 and Class 3.

For both Class 2 and Class 3, a continuous 3-year period of UK residency can be a route to eligibility, without a hurdle of a set amount of contributions. In your case, if you lived in the UK until 18, the 3yr residency route to qualification would be easily passed.

For Class 2, you also need to satisfy the criterion "Immediately before going abroad, you were ordinarily an employed or self-employed earner in the UK", and so some NICs would be necessary to clear that hurdle. From HMRC's response, it seems you cleared that too:

I need to make separate payments for Class 2 and Class 3

So the below is largely irrelevant for your case, but posting in case useful for others.

But the point about < 3yrs of contributions giving rise to 3 qualifying years may be relevant to others. Someone could work in the UK on a family visa, eg a Japanese spouse of a British citizen. Said visa would ordinarily be valid for 2yr9mo if issued outside the UK, so that person would not satisfy the 3yr residency criterion if not extending their stay in the UK. However, if that person were to work in the UK for the majority of their 2yr9mo stay, it is entirely possibly that their NICs exceed the thresholds to be treated as three qualifying years.

[Tkydon]

Just a reminder.

The current Urgency is for paying Voluntary Contributions for the years between 2006-7 and 2019-20.

Even after 5th. April 2025 it will still be possible to back pay contributions, but only going back 6 years.

[Mr Tardy]

Thanks for the info, CToshika,

Out of interest, did you phone the Future Pensions Centre using the UK 0800 number - or the number for phoning from outside the UK?

I ask because the outside UK number always drops on me after I select for the Pension Payment option. I’m seriously considering choosing Welsh and blagging it!

So anyway I called the "Future Pensions Centre" [*], and actually got through and they helpfully confirmed that yes, my pension will increase if I pay the shortfall (which I knew already because why else I am I doing this?...), and informed me (incorrectly, as I suspected) I'd need an 18 (?) digit reference code to make the payment with, and then they offered put me through to HMRC, which by some miracle actually happened, and HMRC said I need to use the code made up of NI number and name (details on gov.uk somewhere), and specifically:

[*] I called using Skype (need to burn through the remaining credit), which basically worked fine, however sometimes the system seems to "freeze" (minutes of silence), so it took a couple of goes before getting to the muzak point; first time I got through to an operator after about 20 minutes but they couldn't hear me; second time also took about 20 minutes.

Hope this info is of use to anyone in the same situation.

[CluelessToshika]

Thanks for the info, CToshika,

Out of interest, did you phone the Future Pensions Centre using the UK 0800 number - or the number for phoning from outside the UK?

I ask because the outside UK number always drops on me after I select for the Pension Payment option. I’m seriously considering choosing Welsh and blagging it!

I called the outside number (+44 191 218 3600).

As noted, I did find after making a selection that I'd just get silence for a while with no sign things would progress further, so started again if that happened. I have the feeling it helped to select an option while they are being read out and not wait until the readout finished, as the selection seemed to get lost in the void. YMMV.

[allatsea]

Success! I've been accepted for Class 2 and have to pay certain years by 5 April. A huge thank you to everyone on RJ! I'm very glad I sent a long cover letter to explain my situation as I wasn't sure if I would qualify for Class 2 or Class 3. I've paid everything and called the Future Pensions Centre in August last year, so I should be all set now.

The timing was a huge surprise as last time I checked the general "when you should expect a reply" service, it showed late August 2025, so I didn't bother logging in to check my status. I logged in and my status now shows "completed", but there is no date, so unless I had logged in every day to check when it changed from "in progress" to "completed", I would have had no idea when they posted my letter ; (

I applied by post in August, but my direct debit form was only valid for 6 months, so I'm now on annual billing. I was told to complete another CF83 form if I wished to use direct debit, so will stay with annual billing for now.
When do the annual bills for Class 2 usually arrive?

[FriendlyFox]

When do the annual bills for Class 2 usually arrive?

I also set up a direct debit but for some reason ended up with annual payments. A minor inconvenience that for me isn't worth filling in forms or calling the nice people at the pensions service.

Looking at my bank statement, I payed at the end of April in 2023 and the end of May in 2024, so I expect this year's bill will arrive sometime after mid-April.

[allatsea]

When do the annual bills for Class 2 usually arrive?

I also set up a direct debit but for some reason ended up with annual payments. A minor inconvenience that for me isn't worth filling in forms or calling the nice people at the pensions service.

Looking at my bank statement, I payed at the end of April in 2023 and the end of May in 2024, so I expect this year's bill will arrive sometime after mid-April.

Thank you! I don't see any point sending off another CF38 to apply for direct debit as I'm sure it would take longer than 6 months to process, so my direct debit form would become invalid (again!).