UK State Pension newbie

[SZQ]

Thanks for comments, particularly Moneymatters for the extra detail. Very Helpful.

So I will complete and send the form this weekend.

Presumably they allow you to transfer money from a non UK bank? I closed my main UK bank account, and another one is frozen.

[Moneymatters]

Yes.

If you follow the link and instructions I posted, you'll see the additional HMRC bank account information (BIC and IBAN) when wiring money from a non-UK account.

[Gareth]

Hi.

Just wanted to share my recent experience with the UK State Pension.

January 2018 - I sent off my CF83 form applying for Class 2 (thanks to Ben's posts on this)
May 2018 - received a letter rejecting my application saying I didn't meet the criteria. Tried to call and find out more but was told to send another letter. So I sent another letter asking for more detailed reasoning on why I was rejected.
August 2018 - received another letter with more details on the rejection and tried to call up again only be told to send another letter. I mentioned my findings in Ben's fifth post on this topic https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/uk-sta ... /#comments
November 2018 - received a further letter also further confirming my rejection.
I gave up for six months, but after talking to a friend who was accepted for class 2 without meeting the criteria, I decided to act!
April 2019 - I emailed my Mum's local MP to see if he would sort things out for me. Had a few relatively prompt replies from one of his staff basically saying that as I was no longer a resident in that town, he couldn't help at all.
June 2019 - I decided to email the MP in charge of HMRC, Jesse Norman. I didn't receive any reply so I kept sending the email again every month for 4 months.
October 2019 - Suddenly received an email from a very helpful complaints manager at HMRC. As my initial CF83 application was more than a year ago, he asked me to email him back an updated version. Less than a week later, I was accepted into class 2 and could backpay 13 years of contributions for the bargain price of 1960.15 pounds. He made sure my payment was updated onto my Government Gateway account and made sure that my twice-yearly direct debit for future contributions was set up properly. The first payment went out smoothly in January and the next payment is due in July.

So it took the best part of two years to sort out but worth it in the end.

If anyone is having trouble being accepted, or were only accepted for class 3 instead of class 2, it might be worth trying to email Jesse Norman MP to plead your case.

[SZQ]

@Gareth, thank you for sharing your experience! Very useful information. Gives me hope Maybe Jesse Norman MP won't be so happy

As others warned me, I have not received a reply to my email. But I did also mail the form so lets see.

Glad you got yours sorted.

[RetireJapan]

I'm paying class 3, but from my reading of the rules I shouldn't be able to pay at all, so I'll stick with this

Even class 3 seems a pretty good deal anyway.

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

I'm paying class 3, but from my reading of the rules I shouldn't be able to pay at all, so I'll stick with this

Even class 3 seems a pretty good deal anyway.

I think you are going to be safe with class 3 contributions, I have been paying them by cheque for the last twenty years since I have been in Japan. Running out of cheques now, (Lloyds won't send me another cheque book) so I have applied to pay my class 3 NICs by monthly direct debit.

[Andy.]

I was thinking about starting a new post, but I don't want to overload the forum with UK pension posts, so thought this might fit here. First off, let me share my experience with the HMRC as a guide for others:

Early March - sent off my CF83 form applying for Class 2 payments (more in hope than in expectation, having left the UK in 2004 just after uni and being in Japan ever since) and requesting back payment of any missing years I could pay for.
June 5th - received an email from my UK bank telling me a future direct debit had been set up by HMRC
Mid-June - received a letter confirming my direct debit details from HMRC. It didn't actually say which of Class 2 or 3 I'd been accepted for, but the first monthly payment (set for August 2020) was 12 pounds 20, which matched the amount in the table on the back for Class 2.
Yesterday - Received another letter from HMRC about making up a shortfall. Similar to previous posters on here, I have been given 8 weeks to pay at the quoted rates, and these will go up slightly if I miss the 8 week deadline. The letter is dated 3rd June and it arrived yesterday, so 4 weeks gone already, but still leaves me with plenty of time. I can pay 14 years' worth of back payments at around 156 pounds a year (from 2006-7 onwards).

I checked the HMRC website about making back payments, and it seems they won't take cheques now because of coronavirus, but I can transfer money from my UK bank account using my NI number as a reference.

I've read here and in other posts about people's money getting lost, HMRC stopping direct debits because they assume it's a forward payment, etc.. so my question is:

Is it better to back pay as much as I can now (I am nearly 40 and have 4 years of contributions so far) or would it make more sense to just pay from now on? I guess it should be all or nothing, as if I just sent 3 or 4 years of payments, the HMRC staff would get confused and not know what it was for perhaps!

Anyway, it seems a lot of people here have experience dealing with HMRC, so I'd really appreciate to hear your thoughts on this.

[RetireJapan]

Is it better to back pay as much as I can now (I am nearly 40 and have 4 years of contributions so far) or would it make more sense to just pay from now on? I guess it should be all or nothing, as if I just sent 3 or 4 years of payments, the HMRC staff would get confused and not know what it was for perhaps!

I would say it is better to backpay as much as you can now:

1. past years are cheaper than present or future years (as the price goes up with inflation)
2. they may change the rules in the future and not allow people to pay in from abroad

You will need to keep an eye on your direct debit though and make sure it doesn't stop mysteriously! If it does, just send them another form to get it restarted

[adamu]

There's always technically a risk with these voluntary contributions, that you end up paying more years than you need to, and then moving back to the UK and have to pay Class 1 (or 2 + 4) as a resident again anyway even though you're fully covered. In your case, you've got 4 years + 14 backpaid years. That leaves you with 17 years left to full 35-year eligibility (under the current rules...). If you end up working in the UK in your late 50s, you'll be paying thousands of pounds of NI for no reason.

However, the voluntary contributions are so cheap, and it seems that the number of required years is only likely to go up or the system could get more strict, so it's probably worth the bet. And you may not go back, or not be eligible or able to pay in future years, so would be good to get it covered now.

[Andy.]

Thanks very much for the replies. Those are all really good points you made, and given the payments are pretty low anyway, it's probably a no brainer really. I'll do the 14 years of backpayments, and keep an eye on the Direct Debit!