Apply for class 3 contributions UK pension

[northSaver]

ah, I just posted about this. I thought it was worth its own thread. Oh well...

No problem! It's probably worth its own thread. I put it here because it follows on from something I posted on this thread a couple of days ago.
Also I've noticed that I spelt "foreseeable" wrong

[Roger Van Zant]

I live in Japan, and I can check my UK pension anytime using the Government Gateway. It's awesome!
Why can't you as well?

In the thread explaining why it's not possible to sign up anymore:

Thankfully I can still log in to gov.uk services via a Government Gateway ID that I set up earlier. It seems like a huge oversight that it's now impossible to sign up from abroad if that is the case.

Same here. Thank goodness I signed up before. Sounds like a real PITA.

Ah, sorry, my bad!

[northSaver]

May I ask why you don't want to do a direct debit if you already have a UK bank account? It saves so much hassle.

Thanks for the info Gareth. Regarding DD, I did try setting it up with them years ago but it didn't work. I forget why now, but after that I gave up with it. Also:
1. There's never much in my UK current account normally, so I'd rather have more control of the payment process and avoid it failing due to lack of funds.
2. I'm almost near the end of my contributions, maybe a couple more years before I can receive a full pension. I want the option of stopping it easily when that happens. DD would be slightly more troublesome in this regard.
3. The pension numbers get updated on the website fairly quickly after a lump sum payment too... but admittedly not as fast as a few days!

Sorry Gareth, I was wrong about the third point. My last payment took exactly 12 weeks to show on my online statement. Not exactly "fairly quickly" anymore.
On the plus side, I only have one year left to pay in order to receive a full UK state pension

[Moneymatters]

May I ask why you don't want to do a direct debit if you already have a UK bank account? It saves so much hassle.

Thanks for the info Gareth. Regarding DD, I did try setting it up with them years ago but it didn't work. I forget why now, but after that I gave up with it. Also:
1. There's never much in my UK current account normally, so I'd rather have more control of the payment process and avoid it failing due to lack of funds.
2. I'm almost near the end of my contributions, maybe a couple more years before I can receive a full pension. I want the option of stopping it easily when that happens. DD would be slightly more troublesome in this regard.
3. The pension numbers get updated on the website fairly quickly after a lump sum payment too... but admittedly not as fast as a few days!

Sorry Gareth, I was wrong about the third point. My last payment took exactly 12 weeks to show on my online statement. Not exactly "fairly quickly" anymore.
On the plus side, I only have one year left to pay in order to receive a full UK state pension

Can you tell me how many more years the HMRC online interface says you need to pay in? I’m sure I have 5 years to pay for full pension but it says I still need to pay 7 more years…

[northSaver]

Can you tell me how many more years the HMRC online interface says you need to pay in? I’m sure I have 5 years to pay for full pension but it says I still need to pay 7 more years…

Yep, same here. I need 37 years of contributions for a full pension, not the oft-quoted 35 years. The reason is complicated and was discussed briefly on another thread here, something to do with being contracted out for some of the time, and/or receiving credits while at school (many moons ago). It's only another two years though, a drop in the ocean at Class 2 rates, so I ain't complaning

[northSaver]

This is mildly interesting. Second post from the top:
"There will be updates to the verification journey for the Government Gateway in July, we can't give details of the potential changes before then."

Might people who don't live in the UK finally be able to check their pensions online? A glimmer of hope perhaps

Oh, and while I'm on the subject... I checked the Gateway verification process yesterday to see if anything's changed, and believe it or not it seems that it has. Slightly. They don't seem to require a Northern Ireland driving licence anymore, any UK licence will do. This should make it easier for Brits abroad who don't come from NI to get verified.

Unfortunately it doesn't make it any easier for my Japanese wife, because as well as the UK driving licence (which she has), you also need either a valid UK passport (impossible) or UK credit history (which I don't think she has; never had a UK credit card and the bills were in my name as far as I can remember). So we phoned the friendly folk at the Future Pension Centre and asked for a pension statement instead. After some rigorous security questions which she had to answer herself - such as listing a string of previous addresses in the UK; very hard if you moved around a lot! - they finally said that they'd post the statement to Japan and sorry but it would take about 10 days. 10 days! Pure bliss, when you're used to things taking 12 weeks. And it softens the blow of not being allowed to register for the online service.

[Moneymatters]

Can you tell me how many more years the HMRC online interface says you need to pay in? I’m sure I have 5 years to pay for full pension but it says I still need to pay 7 more years…

Yep, same here. I need 37 years of contributions for a full pension, not the oft-quoted 35 years. The reason is complicated and was discussed briefly on another thread here, something to do with being contracted out for some of the time, and/or receiving credits while at school (many moons ago). It's only another two years though, a drop in the ocean at Class 2 rates, so I ain't complaning

oh snap! Many thanks. that makes sense in my situation too.
Reassuring to know there is an actual method to their madness.

[beanhead]

[qand/or receiving credits while at school (many moons ago). It's only another two years though, a drop in the ocean at Class 2 rates, so I ain't complaning

I am still confused by this. Are you suggesting that the 3 years of school credits are not real credits? Do they somehow give eligibility to pay Class 2 or 3 but not contribute to the years of payments?

[Beaglehound]

[qand/or receiving credits while at school (many moons ago). It's only another two years though, a drop in the ocean at Class 2 rates, so I ain't complaning

I am still confused by this. Are you suggesting that the 3 years of school credits are not real credits? Do they somehow give eligibility to pay Class 2 or 3 but not contribute to the years of payments?

Open to correction, but I think the anomalies discussed above relate to being contracted out rather than the ‘school credits’. These three years are certainly counted on my NI record.

[Gareth]

Sorry Gareth, I was wrong about the third point. My last payment took exactly 12 weeks to show on my online statement. Not exactly "fairly quickly" anymore.
On the plus side, I only have one year left to pay in order to receive a full UK state pension

12 weeks - blimey. My direct debit came out on Friday and my record was updated on the same day.

My record indicates I need 35 years. I have 21 years on my record which includes the 3 years of secondary school age. 14 years to go but 25 years left to pay those 14 years.

Let’s hope the new Prime Minister/Chancellor whoever that may be doesn’t scrap class 2…