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

Will do.

Worth mentioning, I live in Dublin but I wanted a GBP account last year as Barclays was closing the account I had when I was living in UK. I had no problem opening one with Bank of Ireland in Northern Ireland. I intend to have HMRC pay my pension into that account when the time comes. My BOI account incurs no monthly maintenance fees.
 
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Interesting contribution by Eoin McGee today on Claire Byrne and he said you had to have paid for the buy back by April 2025 rather than having made the application and pending a reply. If true with the delays we are approaching the cut off point here
 
Skyline said:
I paid for 17 years additional contributions by Revolut in mid January '24 and my forecast has been fully updated today after two earlier partial updates.
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Great to know that. I just sent a £5 test payment before I saw your comment. As an FYI to others, there is an additional reference area in Revolut where you can enter the HMRC requirement - your National Insurance number followed by ‘IC’, your surname then your initial.
Skyline said:
I paid for 17 years additional contributions by Revolut in mid January '24 and my forecast has been fully updated today after two earlier partial updates.
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Did HMRC give you a list of years to pay and how much and which class ? They did for me - anyway I think if you ring DWP they will tell you how many of those years ( before 2016 and after 2016 ) you can buy to qualify for full pension - no point buying more than you need - 17 years from 2006 is what you can buy. Or you may not need to buy any - that’s how I understand it. Tell DWP you have a pension forecast (I’m sure you have) and that you have the HMRC letter. If you buy too many years or the wrong years you won’t get a refund. And I sent my £ via cheque to HMRC and covering letter detailing which years I’d opted to buy. Dont test the waters. You might get burned
 
Just got a letter through the post with good news my application was successful and I'm class 2.

Interestingly I only submitted on the 24th Feb 2024. I applied online my application was based on me leaving the UK about 10 years ago and my circumstances were pretty straight forward. I didn't supply cv or additional information but I was always PAYE in both countries and the employer details were easy to get addresses etc

Huge thanks again to @DannyBoyD and all those on here. Great community and helpful.
 
I rang the number as advised in the letter. I rang reasonably early , just after nine, and got through in about 20 minutes.
I told the person who answered that I had been approved to make voluntary NI contributions but had been advised to check that payment would increase my pension entitlement.
He asked a number of security questions before doing anything but once they were ok it was fine.
He then took my NI number, looked it on the system and confirmed that making the payment would increase the pension.

The letter that I had received was the usual letter accepting my application to pay voluntary contributions by annual payment.
It was clear on what years I could buy and how much they would cost.
The thing that worried me was the sentence "Due to changes in the law, you need the pension service to confirm, whether your state pension will increase if you pay any shortfall."
I was worried that they had added other checks that had to be met.
 
Got my letter today saying I have been accepted to pay class 2 and that I have 4 years contribution. I applied 1 year ago.

Just for some information I worked in London for 4 years and moved to Australia for 1 year before returning to Ireland. I worked up until I left the UK, but travelled in Australia for 2 months before working again. I informed them of this and enclosed my Australian social security number and 1st pay slip. I answered NO to ordinarily resident in the UK, and I supplied no documentation from working in Ireland.

Thanks everyone especially @DannyBoyD for all the useful information.
 
Did anyone receive a confirmation letter that they can pay Class 2 - yet their online record still reflects Class 3? I would like these to match before I make any payment to HMRC, and wondering if anyone else managed to resolve it.
 
ailbhed said:
Did anyone receive a confirmation letter that they can pay Class 2 - yet their online record still reflects Class 3? I would like these to match before I make any payment to HMRC, and wondering if anyone else managed to resolve it.
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The default is class 3 and it does not change. Once you pay it will change to full year though takes a few weeks.
 
I paid about a month ago and am still waiting to see my record updated. Although online it says Class 3 still, I was approved for Class 2 and that's what I paid, as per my letter.
 
Stitcher said:
I paid about a month ago and am still waiting to see my record updated. Although online it says Class 3 still, I was approved for Class 2 and that's what I paid, as per my letter.
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I paid the 17 Years on the 6 of February 2024 and my forecast was only updated today 29 May 2024 so it will be at least 4 Months before it is updated, I did not get a notice by post or email (Yet) I just checked it online. So patience
 
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I worked in the UK on and off totalling about 3 years. My tax code for one job was NT (no tax deducted). This code relates to say musicians etc. But I do have an employee number. I presume that this (period of NT) does not count?
 
Is this true?

From a good administration perspective as well I can't see HMRC rejecting applications which arrived before the July 2025 deadline but couldn't be processed because of their own resourcing issues.

I'd advise anyone to get an application in yesterday but I wasn't convinced that the ten-month delay in processing was relevant.
 
My letter received this week states I need to pay my back dated years by 5 April 2025. This is title payment date without penalty on the table.

Don't know if this is applicable to others
 
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If you have received your acceptance & payment letter, pay attention to the dates listed there & keep them.

If your application is in & being processed, it will be honoured.

But you still need to pay attention to the payment dates when your letter arrives.

If you get your acceptance / payment letter on 21st April 2025, you likely will have 9 days to pay. So start saving now.

If you apply on 1st May 2025, you can still be accepted for voluntary NICs, but the max backdating allowed will be 6 years.
 
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