Asking for Advice about UK Pension and NI

[jonnyd]

I believe it cause I applied for the NI number in march and got it in August!

[beanhead]

When I spoke to them they seemed to suggest that I got 3 years' credit for post-16 secondary education, rather than tertiary education. But, as others have suggested, their actual decision-making criteria is fuzzy, to say the least.
Best of luck with it.

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

When I spoke to them they seemed to suggest that I got 3 years' credit for post-16 secondary education, rather than tertiary education. But, as others have suggested, their actual decision-making criteria is fuzzy, to say the least.
Best of luck with it.

My only gap in NICs record is for my three years at university, the funny thing is that is the only time that I have worked in the UK during the university holidays. On my record of payments it even said that that I had paid national insurance contributions but it wasn't enough for a whole year. Been paying voluntary class 3 contributions annually since I arrived in Japan in 1999- such a great deal.

[JapaneseMike]

When I spoke to them they seemed to suggest that I got 3 years' credit for post-16 secondary education, rather than tertiary education. But, as others have suggested, their actual decision-making criteria is fuzzy, to say the least.
Best of luck with it.

My only gap in NICs record is for my three years at university, the funny thing is that is the only time that I have worked in the UK during the university holidays. On my record of payments it even said that that I had paid national insurance contributions but it wasn't enough for a whole year. Been paying voluntary class 3 contributions annually since I arrived in Japan in 1999- such a great deal.

So, I checked last night on my record

It says I have 25 years, but when I count the list of years, it only shows 22, so (confirmation bias mode on) this proves they do count the 3 years from uni too.

[RetireJapan]

It's not years from uni, but rather 16-18. Not entirely sure what the reasoning is there (post-compulsory education, pre-adult?).

[Beaglehound]

It's not years from uni, but rather 16-18. Not entirely sure what the reasoning is there (post-compulsory education, pre-adult?).

The thinking was that folk who stayed on at school would be missing out on contributions that school leavers at 16 would be accruing, whether by working or being on benefits, so these three years are ‘starter years’. Pretty sure it was abolished a decade or so back though.

[RetireJapan]

The thinking was that folk who stayed on at school would be missing out on contributions that school leavers at 16 would be accruing, whether by working or being on benefits, so these three years are ‘starter years’. Pretty sure it was abolished a decade or so back though.

Ha, ha, so only applies to us old people?

[adamu]

There is a link to information about starting credits on the wiki, by the way, courtesy of Kuma

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/United_Kingd ... te_Pension

[Beaglehound]

There is a link to information about starting credits on the wiki, by the way, courtesy of Kuma

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/United_Kingd ... te_Pension

A good job indeed. I wonder if there is an easy way to access the wiki from the boards? And make it prominent. I ask because I see a lot of folk asking basic questions about Nisa and Ideco in particular, and it must be a pain for folk to repeat the same answers.

[jonnyd]

But if I only got my NI number now in my 40s, surely I won't have any credits at all and it will start from August 2021 when they assigned me a number and the history of my NI would also start from August 2021 wouldn't it?