National Insurance: Neglecting payments and how to turn it around

[volatileresolve]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here, so it is probably pretty basic.

I recently decided to look into paying voluntary contributions to my National Insurance with the aim of getting a UK pension. I've been in Japan now for 22 years, and left the UK when I was 23.

I have 4 (FOUR!) years of full contributions (those jobs at the local shop for 2 pounds an hour paid off!), 25 missing and "22 years to contribute before 5 April 2043".

Apparently if I pay those 22 years I can get "Your forecast is £137.54 a week". However, I can presumably increase that pension if I make back payments.

Looking at the record, each year going all the way back to 2006/2007 says "Pay a voluntary contribution of £824.20 by 5 April 2023." Prior to those years it says it is too late to make the voluntary contributions.

So here are my questions:

1.) Very basic: How do I make voluntary National Insurance contributions?

2.) My understanding is that "usually" people can only make payments going back 6 years. So I wonder why I appear to have the option of paying all the way back to 2006/2007. Can I pay all of those years or do I only get to choose from those years to pay back?

3.) Is there a way of setting up a payment plan for the coming 22 years?

4.) Is there something I am missing? Some kind of catch in which even if make the payments I will be told at retirement age "Oh sorry, you were ineligible because you did not fill in form 237" or some other basic stuff I should know?

Thanks for reading this far. I hope I haven't made too many of you roll your eyes at these questions. I look forward to any help you can give.

[Beaglehound]

The wiki should answer most if not all of your questions

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/United_Kingdom

[adamu]

First of all, I hope you've got heaps of patience, because the turnaround to get set up, and then to fix errors, is months.

1.) Very basic: How do I make voluntary National Insurance contributions?

Obligatory wiki link: https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/United_Kingd ... rom_abroad

2.) My understanding is that "usually" people can only make payments going back 6 years. So I wonder why I appear to have the option of paying all the way back to 2006/2007. Can I pay all of those years or do I only get to choose from those years to pay back?

Also covered on the wiki, this is only available until April next year, apparently.

3.) Is there a way of setting up a payment plan for the coming 22 years?

Yes.

4.) Is there something I am missing? Some kind of catch in which even if make the payments I will be told at retirement age "Oh sorry, you were ineligible because you did not fill in form 237" or some other basic stuff I should know?

The numbers you are quoted are for Class 3. You should first try to be qualified for Class 2 payments, then the annual amount will decrease to £163.80/year.

[volatileresolve]

The wiki should answer most if not all of your questions

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/United_Kingdom

Thank you!

[volatileresolve]

First of all, I hope you've got heaps of patience, because the turnaround to get set up, and then to fix errors, is months.

1.) Very basic: How do I make voluntary National Insurance contributions?

Obligatory wiki link: https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/United_Kingd ... rom_abroad

2.) My understanding is that "usually" people can only make payments going back 6 years. So I wonder why I appear to have the option of paying all the way back to 2006/2007. Can I pay all of those years or do I only get to choose from those years to pay back?

Also covered on the wiki, this is only available until April next year, apparently.

3.) Is there a way of setting up a payment plan for the coming 22 years?

Yes.

4.) Is there something I am missing? Some kind of catch in which even if make the payments I will be told at retirement age "Oh sorry, you were ineligible because you did not fill in form 237" or some other basic stuff I should know?

The numbers you are quoted are for Class 3. You should first try to be qualified for Class 2 payments, then the annual amount will decrease to £163.80/year.

That's a great help! Thank you for the information. Looks like my next step is to apply for Class 2 then!

[Bubblegun]

1.Write to the Uk ex pat pension division asking to back pay your NI insurance and to send you a letter. You can try for class 2 or 3. class two being the better.
You'll get a letter telling you the years you can back pay and the amount.Back pay the oldest first, if you can't do a lump sum for all the years.

2. You can pay by cheque or by debit card. Not sure if they take credit cards though. I prefer a paper trail so I used cheques.

3. Put the money in your UK bank account, and set up a direct debit.

4 Remember you only need 35 years for the full pension. once you hit that threshold, I'd stop because anything after that won't get you anymore.

5. Age. Not sure what the cut off is, but it says you can pay more than the 6 years, depending on age.So id ask about that. it might be that they know you can't reach the full 35 years and there's some caveat we don't know about as it isn't written what the requirements are.

6 See if your entitled to any pay NI credit years.

By the sounds of it you're 45 years old. So you would have another 22 possible years contributions, plus the 6 back years, giving you 28 years in total if you retire at 67 which is your retirement age.Or is it 68 giving you 29 years. So you'd only missing 6 years in total then. Not bad really. and to be honest its a darn good return on your investment. Plus you'd have your Japanese pension on top of that.
If so you might want to check out the Fuka nankin that would help build up extra and help make up for the 6 years lost in the UK.Not 100% but it might help.

[volatileresolve]

1.Write to the Uk ex pat pension division asking to back pay your NI insurance and to send you a letter. You can try for class 2 or 3. class two being the better.
You'll get a letter telling you the years you can back pay and the amount.Back pay the oldest first, if you can't do a lump sum for all the years.

2. You can pay by cheque or by debit card. Not sure if they take credit cards though. I prefer a paper trail so I used cheques.

3. Put the money in your UK bank account, and set up a direct debit.

4 Remember you only need 35 years for the full pension. once you hit that threshold, I'd stop because anything after that won't get you anymore.

5. Age. Not sure what the cut off is, but it says you can pay more than the 6 years, depending on age.So id ask about that. it might be that they know you can't reach the full 35 years and there's some caveat we don't know about as it isn't written what the requirements are.

6 See if your entitled to any pay NI credit years.

By the sounds of it you're 45 years old. So you would have another 22 possible years contributions, plus the 6 back years, giving you 28 years in total if you retire at 67 which is your retirement age.Or is it 68 giving you 29 years. So you'd only missing 6 years in total then. Not bad really. and to be honest its a darn good return on your investment. Plus you'd have your Japanese pension on top of that.
If so you might want to check out the Fuka nankin that would help build up extra and help make up for the 6 years lost in the UK.Not 100% but it might help.

Thanks for this.

Regarding the bolded, I apparently already have 4 years paid up. If I can pay 6 years from before and 22 years from now, that should be 32 years in total, so yeah, almost the full pension, hopefully. If somehow I can pay more than that then even better.

There does appear to be some extra stipulations regarding Class 2 (thanks again to adamu and Beaglehound for the link to the Wiki), that I need to have had a) a period of three consecutive years full payment and b) been paying into NI immediately before going abroad. It looks to me as though I have both of those bases covered as well, which is nice.

Thanks again to everyone for your help.

Today's task: print out and fill in the form applying for pension.

[goodandbadjapan]

This should help. https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-i ... /deadlines I downloaded the form and applied for Class 2 and it worked out. I also was allowed to pay back about 12 years at Class 2 rates.

Edited to add: Just noticed - it is all on the wiki! That will give you all the info you need.

[volatileresolve]

This should help. https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-i ... /deadlines I downloaded the form and applied for Class 2 and it worked out. I also was allowed to pay back about 12 years at Class 2 rates.

Edited to add: Just noticed - it is all on the wiki! That will give you all the info you need.

Wow! That sounds great. Maybe I can get a full pension after all.

Do I dare to dream?

[volatileresolve]

I have a follow-up question.

This is not going to sound too bright, but I am having trouble remembering/tracking down who I worked for just before I came out to Japan.

I am pretty sure it was work that I had through an agency rather than a direct employment, but now I am not sure how to find their details or even to confirm which agency I worked through.

I tried going back through my bank records, but online they only seem to extend to 2002 (I need to go to 2000), and I cannot find anywhere on gov.uk site (or at least nothing that would go back that far).

Does anyone know a way to find out previous employers?