Message for UK pension enthusiasts…

[ShowMeTheMoney]

An unexpected update! I just checked to see if my 14 years worth of back payments are showing on my record yet. To my surprise the year 2024-25 is showing as paid in full. My backpayments are not yet reflected. This is very odd, since I have not even received a letter asking for payment covering year 2024-25 yet! Let alone paid it!

I guess another phone call is in order..........

I just called HMRC and after about 5 minutes of waiting they stated that all their agents are busy and to call back again, and then they just ended the call. The wait time was apparently 50 minutes, which in my experience means 90 minutes. Wasn't looking forward to that long of a wait, but I was willing to do it to get this resolved.

I was calling for the same reason as you too. I have sent them enough money to pay back for 12 years up until 2024, yet when I check my record online it shows that I have only paid for year 24~25 despite the fact that I sent them the money almost a year ago before the 24~25 year was even halfway through.

I hope you have more success at getting through than I did. I'm going to wait until next week and see if I can at least get far enough that they don't drop the call after 5 minutes.

[jane doe]

On Feb 7th I posted two cheques off to HMRC. One for over 2,000GBP to back pay as much as I could. The other for around 180GBP to cover year 2023-24.Both cheques were cashed on 28th Feb. From this date I have been checking every week or so to see if these payments are reflected in my NIC record. Unsuprisingly, nothing, until today! I just checked my NIC record online and was surprised to see it showing 2023-24 showing as paid in full!

The 14 or so years I can back pay (and have done at Class 2 rates) are still shown as not paid in full and quoted at Class 3 rates

It is nice to see some progress on this at least!

Many thanks to Ben and the contributors to this forum for inspiring me to get this all sorted out!

Same for me. It took about two weeks after my most recent phone call to HMRC for the contributions to show up. When I paid a further year, that took another two weeks.

Like you, they accepted my request to pay Class 2, but my record shows all of these 15 backpayments as from self-employment. I am going to leave it like that. It doesn't affect the amount of pension. If they come back to me at a later date about that.

When I go to the "Your pension summary" page though, I cannot get any information about how much I will be able to collect. I'm not sure if the page is supposed to show that, but assume it should. I guess I will have to wait for the DWP to do that part.

[Tkydon]

On Feb 7th I posted two cheques off to HMRC. One for over 2,000GBP to back pay as much as I could. The other for around 180GBP to cover year 2023-24.Both cheques were cashed on 28th Feb. From this date I have been checking every week or so to see if these payments are reflected in my NIC record. Unsuprisingly, nothing, until today! I just checked my NIC record online and was surprised to see it showing 2023-24 showing as paid in full!

The 14 or so years I can back pay (and have done at Class 2 rates) are still shown as not paid in full and quoted at Class 3 rates

It is nice to see some progress on this at least!

Many thanks to Ben and the contributors to this forum for inspiring me to get this all sorted out!

Same for me. It took about two weeks after my most recent phone call to HMRC for the contributions to show up. When I paid a further year, that took another two weeks.

Like you, they accepted my request to pay Class 2, but my record shows all of these 15 backpayments as from self-employment. I am going to leave it like that. It doesn't affect the amount of pension. If they come back to me at a later date about that.

When I go to the "Your pension summary" page though, I cannot get any information about how much I will be able to collect. I'm not sure if the page is supposed to show that, but assume it should. I guess I will have to wait for the DWP to do that part.

Class 2 contributions are for the self-employed in the UK.

We just get lumped in there by accident of qualifying for Class 2 being in employment or self-employment overseas.