Enjoying Retirement

[Register1]

tertius said:

Register1 said:

Checking my state pension.
66 retirement age, this September
I have several uncompleted years.
So my current expected weekly is £182.92
And it says my maximum is £187.25

The difference is £4.33 per week, = £225.16 per year so after 81 weeks, this £354.20 (below) would even out after 81 weeks.

My question, if answerable is.
How many unfilled years would I need to fill in, to hit the MAX £187.25

Currently.
34 years of full contributions
1 year to contribute before 5 April 2022
11 years when you did not contribute enough

Is is worth me filling up the missed years ?
To fill 1 year would cost me £354.20

Or just wait until 1 year to contribute before 5 April 2022 ?

I think you only need 35 years to get the maximum, so that ought to be this year (2021-22) finishing next week.

Plus if you are working until Sept, that might be enough to get another year added.

Edited by tertius on Wednesday 30th March 18:18

Thank you so much.
I plan on retirement in June following year (2023), so additional 14 from this April, hopefully see enough full years.

Edited by Register1 on Wednesday 30th March 18:57

[craig1912]

tertius said:

I think you only need 35 years to get the maximum, so that ought to be this year (2021-22) finishing next week.

Plus if you are working until Sept, that might be enough to get another year added.

Edited by tertius on Wednesday 30th March 18:18

It isn’t as simple as that. I have 42 years full years but still need another two. Having retired I’m not going to get those through paying NI but it maybe worth me paying a lump sum to get them which would give me an extra £6 pw. My max is £170.60.

[Register1]

craig1912 said:

tertius said:

I think you only need 35 years to get the maximum, so that ought to be this year (2021-22) finishing next week.

Plus if you are working until Sept, that might be enough to get another year added.

Edited by tertius on Wednesday 30th March 18:18

It isn’t as simple as that. I have 42 years full years but still need another two. Having retired I’m not going to get those through paying NI but it maybe worth me paying a lump sum to get them which would give me an extra £6 pw. My max is £170.60.

How come at 42 full years, you still need more ,
I also understood, that 35 years gave 100% state pension ?

[craig1912]

Register1 said:

How come at 42 full years, you still need more ,
I also understood, that 35 years gave 100% state pension ?

Age when new state scheme kicked in, wether or not you’ve been contracted out and maybe other variables.
As I said it isn’t straight forward unless you are under a certain age and have never been contracted out.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-sta...

[GT3Manthey]

craig1912 said:

Age when new state scheme kicked in, wether or not you’ve been contracted out and maybe other variables.
As I said it isn’t straight forward unless you are under a certain age and have never been contracted out.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-sta...

Is there a way that you can check just using your NI number on the website that you have enough qualifying years ?

[craig1912]

GT3Manthey said:

Is there a way that you can check just using your NI number on the website that you have enough qualifying years ?

Not using your NI number but once you have set up a gov gateway or gov verify ID it’s easy

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

[craig1912]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It does… which is why I posted the link, as there is no additional amount in the new state scheme…there was in the old one, which you didn’t get if you were contracted out.

[GT3Manthey]

craig1912 said:

Not using your NI number but once you have set up a gov gateway or gov verify ID it’s easy

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Your forecast is £179.60 a week,
£780.94 a month, £9,371.27 a year

Your forecast

is not a guarantee and is based on the current law
is based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2021
does not include any increase due to inflation
£179.60 is the most you can get

Yay tks looks like im at least almost there although ive completed over 35yrs so maybe its not so straight forward but i guess i can stomach the extra tenner a week !

Edited by GT3Manthey on Wednesday 30th March 19:40

Edited by GT3Manthey on Wednesday 30th March 19:54

[Register1]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Thanks Chicken Dinner

[craig1912]

GT3Manthey said:

Your forecast is £179.60 a week,
£780.94 a month, £9,371.27 a year

Your forecast

is not a guarantee and is based on the current law
is based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2021
does not include any increase due to inflation
£179.60 is the most you can get

Yay tks looks like im at least almost there although ive completed over 35yrs so maybe its not so straight forward but i guess i can stomach the extra tenner a week !

Edited by GT3Manthey on Wednesday 30th March 19:40

Edited by GT3Manthey on Wednesday 30th March 19:54

Yep look’s like you are there as max is £179.60

Mine

Your forecast is £179.60 a week,
£780.94 a month, £9,371.27 a year

Your forecast

is not a guarantee and is based on the current law
does not include any increase due to inflation
You need to continue to contribute National Insurance to reach your forecast

Estimate based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2021

£173.55 a week
Forecast if you contribute another 2 years before 5 April 2027

£179.60 a week
£179.60 is the most you can get

[craig1912]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Opting out has zero impact on qualifying years but does make a difference to the starting amount of the new state scheme and you can make up the difference by having more qualifying years.

COPE is paid by the employer/private scheme not the state scheme and is the amount you would have received from the state had you not been contracted out.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-p...

[GT3Manthey]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

But it says my weekly payout is a tenner short of the max no ?

Tks for the guidance btw chicken

[mikeiow]

GT3Manthey said:

But it says my weekly payout is a tenner short of the max no ?

Tks for the guidance btw chicken

Eh?
It told you you would get £179.60, and (the important bit lower down) that £179.60 is the most you can get.

What tenner?!
IIRC, you use an IFA, or have I got this wrong? Do you have money conversations with him to clarify this stuff….

[Welshbeef]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

My wife and I have some COPE only £15ish I think - from many years ago.

Question is can you recover the COPE by working for more than the 35 years ? And where do you confirm the number of years?

Not that it will have any bearing in the years I will work but out of curiosity & it would be nice to hit full state pension if possible.

[Welshbeef]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

That’s a kick in the balls.

What is the reason they give why not? Can you not buy the COPE missing years

[craig1912]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

But it wouldn’t have increased your state pension, it would just mean you had a higher starting point for the new state scheme and therefore have to do less qualifying years.
My starting point in new scheme was low as I had been contracted out for the maximum period. I’ve now retired early but am still two years short to earn the max pension of £179.60.
My COPE has also gone AWOL as I transferred a couple of times, the last a CETV from my FS scheme and somewhere along the journey the insurers didn’t talk to each other.

[Michael_B]

COPE (Contracted Out Pension Equivalent) is "here's what the Govt would have paid had you not contracted out." It precisely says on the HMRC website that this amount will be paid by other institutions (to whom you contracted out) and not by HMRC.

In my case I was contracted out while working the UK in the 1990s, and upon leaving the UK in 2000 a statement from the Royal Sun Alliance showed a transfer value of about £10k for the policy that received these sums. Turns out it was a with profits vehicle and did reasonably well. I recently cashed it out for £63k gross from its current owner Phoenix Life, just after my 55th birthday.

Although emergency tax meant I only received £45k of it, I'll get £13k back from HMRC after April as I had no other UK income in that tax year, and am still a UK citizen. And the Swiss taxman confirmed that he doesn't care one jot, as the money has already been treated for tax in a jurisdiction with whom Bern has a DTA. Furthermore, these amounts *may* then have been paid as additional contributions to my current occupational DC pension, with a further 35% credit against this year's Swiss taxable income.

Hurrah for contracting out

Edited by Michael_B on Wednesday 30th March 21:40

[craig1912]

Welshbeef said:

My wife and I have some COPE only £15ish I think - from many years ago.

Question is can you recover the COPE by working for more than the 35 years ? And where do you confirm the number of years?

Not that it will have any bearing in the years I will work but out of curiosity & it would be nice to hit full state pension if possible.

You probably will hit your full state pension. As I have said elsewhere you being contracted out affects your starting point in the new state scheme and if you still have a few years to go you may well make that up. Your COPE is paid by your employers scheme.
You can find your projection and NI record by following the link I posted earlier.
I believe the GOV site does have errors and people have had to contact them to get correct info.

[Welshbeef]

Michael_B said:

COPE (Contracted Out Pension Equivalent) is "here's what the Govt would have paid had you not contracted out." It precisely says on the HMRC website that this amount will be paid by other institutions (to whom you contracted out) and not by HMRC.

In my case I was contracted out while working the UK in the 1990s, and upon leaving the UK in 2000 a statement from the Royal Sun Alliance showed a transfer value of about £10k for the policy that received these sums. Turns out it was a with profits vehicle and did reasonably well. I recently cashed it out for £63k gross from its current owner Phoenix Life, just after my 55th birthday.

Although emergency tax meant I only received £47k of it, I'll get £13k back from HMRC after April as I had no other UK income in that tax year, and am still a UK citizen. And the Swiss taxman confirmed that he doesn't care one jot, as the money has already been treated for tax in a jurisdiction with whom Bern has a DTA. Furthermore, these amounts *may* then have been paid as additional contributions to my current occupational DC pension, with a further 35% credit against this year's Swiss taxable income.

Hurrah for contracting out

Though you only need 35 qualifying years for a full state pension but then if you work and qualify for say 48 years surely those 13 years could mitigate the COPE

Yes I know what HMRC says on its pension forecast website but none of my final salary pensions stated I was contracted out and nor did they state £x pa is being taken from your state pension. Too late now to pay in more to mitigate this lack of comms meaning we’re out of pocket needlessly.

[PistonHead007]

Welshbeef said:

Though you only need 35 qualifying years for a full state pension but then if you work and qualify for say 48 years surely those 13 years could mitigate the COPE

Yes I know what HMRC says on its pension forecast website but none of my final salary pensions stated I was contracted out and nor did they state £x pa is being taken from your state pension. Too late now to pay in more to mitigate this lack of comms meaning we’re out of pocket needlessly.

If you've got any COPE and you still hit 35yrs of qualifying NIC then you're better off than someone who only hit the maximum flat rate (currently 35yrs for £179.60pw) because you get the full flat rate state pension and the COPE boost to whichever private pension you contracted out into.

If you've been contracted out you will need more than 35yrs to reach 35 qualifying years because of the NIC that was sent to your private pensions.

When it changed in 2016 anyone who had already accrued a combined basic + additional state pension at least as much as the flat rate wouldn't see any increase from further NIC. However, if you had built up more than the flat rate by 2016 the extra is protected and not lost. That's how you can end up with a full flat rate state pension with 32yrs NIC, it was made up when it was basic + additional and those contributions combined were worth more than one year of NIC now.