Key Post UK State Pension - Make voluntary contributions to qualify for UK pension on top of Irish pension

adriang said:
Great thread! i was going to print out CF83 form when i realised there is now an online form available on the gov.uk website. it doesn't offer a facility to upload a cover letter or fill one out. have people used this successfully without usage of a cover letter? Am hoping to get class 2 & back pay for a couple of gap years (2015-2019) . I spent 8 years working in London before returning back to Ireland in 2013 (the pension forecast says I contributed 12 years which is not accurate). Everyone on here seems to be printing out the form so holding off submitting as not sure if im missing something!
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The 12 years may well be correct. I believe everyone was 'given' 3 years, to cover the last three years of education. Which some people did, and some left school at 16 and worked.
That disadvantaged the ones who stayed on. So the easiest way to level that up was to award everyone those years. Doesn't even matter if you were in the country at the time.
You should be able to view your NI record on the forecast site, and it will list which 12 years you have.
 
Printing and posting by recorded delivery gives you a documentary record. Not everyones circumstances are straightforward.

The important thing is to apply.
 
adriang said:
Great thread! i was going to print out CF83 form when i realised there is now an online form available on the gov.uk website. it doesn't offer a facility to upload a cover letter or fill one out. have people used this successfully without usage of a cover letter? Am hoping to get class 2 & back pay for a couple of gap years (2015-2019) . I spent 8 years working in London before returning back to Ireland in 2013 (the pension forecast says I contributed 12 years which is not accurate). Everyone on here seems to be printing out the form so holding off submitting as not sure if im missing something!
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Hi there,

I am in exactly the same position. Have filled in the form online, it didn't take too long. But I am reluctant to submit as everyone here talks about the physical CF83 form. Is it simply the case that the online application wasnt always available?
 
Bagman said:
Is it simply the case that the online application wasnt always available?
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Yes, online form is relatively new.

I haven't used it myself, but as long as you get confirmation of submission, I think it will be fine.

If you need to add any other documentation, do it the old fashioned way.
 
DannyBoyD said:
Yes, online form is relatively new.

I haven't used it myself, but as long as you get confirmation of submission, I think it will be fine.

If you need to add any other documentation, do it the old fashioned way.
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Thanks DannyBoy for all the advice here. Fantastic work.

There is a portion of the online application which allows you to add any other relevant info so I'm going to use that part as my cover letter.
 
Lisgoold said:
The 12 years may well be correct. I believe everyone was 'given' 3 years, to cover the last three years of education. Which some people did, and some left school at 16 and worked.
That disadvantaged the ones who stayed on. So the easiest way to level that up was to award everyone those years. Doesn't even matter if you were in the country at the time.
You should be able to view your NI record on the forecast site, and it will list which 12 years you have.
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This makes sense. I worked there 3.5 years so have 4 years NI payments. When I check gov.uk I am down for 7 years. Do you think it is ok to just top up by 3 years to get partial pension or better to pay more just in case?
 
DannyBoyD said:
Read all the posts here.
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I mean is it ok to trust the 3 years extra they seem to have given to people or should we disregard it in calculating in case it is taken away?

I appreciate in general terms it makes sense to pay as much as possible, especially if accepted as class 2.
 
I’ve already claimed an occupational pension from England. I was entitled to claim this from age 60. I’m still working here in Ireland.
I only worked there for 4 years up to ‘92

Am I also able to claim a uk state state pension ?

Or does that fact that I’ve already a pension from there mean I can’t ?
 
Could someone clarify the actual mechanism for paying the class 2 contributions using an IBAN transfer from a BOI account in the Republic? The information on the HMRC website says to include your NI insurance number as a reference. But where in an IBAN transfer can you place this reference? When I try to set up an IBAN transfer from BOI to HMRC as soon as I select currency to GB pounds the Reference field is no longer available ? Do I place my NI number in the "Message to payee' " field? I'd be interested to hear how others have completed this. Maybe I'm mis-understanding the process?
 
I don't have BOI, so perhaps the set up is different there. But generally there is a reference field you can complete.

I pay in Euro & estimate a little over to account for currency exchange. Some other folks here use Revolut / Wise
 
I wonder how many people in Ireland are eligible to make voluntary NIC, and yet don't know about this.

I'd say tens of thousands.
 
Hi DannyBoyD, Thanks for the reply about the mechanism for payment!! (That is probably the secret sauce to my understanding) I thought that I had to choose GB pounds when it was a UK Bank with UK IBAN. I went back and had another look and sure enough when I set up a new Payee and leave the currency as Euro the Reference Field is present. I didn't know it was possible to do that ie transfer Euro to GB account. The only issues then I guess is where and when the Euro amount is converted to GB pounds and how to make allowances for the currency exchange. My original thoughts were that if I specified the currency in GB pounds, I would have some control over how much it was going to cost me. I spoke with a HMRC advisor last week and they indicated that it would be 8 weeks before they could acknowledge receipt of payment and up to 30 weeks before NI payments are actually allocated to my NI account. Aside: If you overpay, do they refund or allocate towards future NI contributions?
 
ohrose said:
Hi DannyBoyD, Thanks for the reply about the mechanism for payment!! (That is probably the secret sauce to my understanding) I thought that I had to choose GB pounds when it was a UK Bank with UK IBAN. I went back and had another look and sure enough when I set up a new Payee and leave the currency as Euro the Reference Field is present. I didn't know it was possible to do that ie transfer Euro to GB account. The only issues then I guess is where and when the Euro amount is converted to GB pounds and how to make allowances for the currency exchange. My original thoughts were that if I specified the currency in GB pounds, I would have some control over how much it was going to cost me. I spoke with a HMRC advisor last week and they indicated that it would be 8 weeks before they could acknowledge receipt of payment and up to 30 weeks before NI payments are actually allocated to my NI account. Aside: If you overpay, do they refund or allocate towards future NI contributions?
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Hi ohrose. Thanks for that info. Good to know the timeline for payments being acknowledged and allocated.

Can I ask when you sent your initial application, just to get an idea of how long the process is currently taking?

Also, is it easy to get through and speak to a HMRC advisor?

Cheers.
 
Bagman said:
Hi ohrose. Thanks for that info. Good to know the timeline for payments being acknowledged and allocated.

Can I ask when you sent your initial application, just to get an idea of how long the process is currently taking?

Also, is it easy to get through and speak to a HMRC advisor?

Cheers.
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I applied in February of 2023 with the CF83 form. I received correspondence approximately 11 months later (Jan 2024) asking for more information about my employment history since leaving the UK all those years ago. After sending on the requested information I got the go ahead to pay about 2 weeks ago. However, I have spent the last few weeks trying to get in touch with the future pensions service and then HMRC and hence trying to understand the mechanism for paying. I think I'm on the last leg. Average wait times were between 20 mins and 30 minutes to both services. They are very helpful when you get through. As it corresponds to 17 x2 years ( my wife is in a similar situation), I want to make sure that I transfer the right monies to the right people with the correct references...hence my original query to the forum. (Aside : I'm still a little confused why the Reference Field is available for a Euro transfer but disappears for a GB pounds transfer .... But maybe someone else on the forum has more experience with all things banking. But saying that, it's the step that everyone on this forum has to complete.... Paying the NIC contributions. Has anyone used BOI app to pay in Sterling and used the "Message to Payee" to store their NI number ?) If I can be of any more assistance, send a message.
 
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