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

Hello,
Great site this and thanks for so much info.
It is very much appreciated.
One query,(which is a silly one but I lost the number you phone in order to see has your money been credited.) I sent some money(my own bank transfer online) in April to cover the past year but haven't heard anything yet as to whether it was credited or not.I know there used to be a delay but thought that I might have had something by way of recognition from them by now.I did have the number but with change of phone and terrible file keeping I mislaid it! I'd appreciate if some one could post the phone number here.Thanks again
 
I got the good news last week that I can buy back at class 2 after initially applying in July 23. I still have a UK bank account so was going to pay from that. Does anyone know if they accept a card payment over the phone? If I do a bank transfer is there any way of specifying the years that im paying? There is one year (2007) that I can buy back at class 3 and I don’t want to pay that one. So I need to make sure that they are allocating the payments to the correct years. Many thanks
 
SashaGG said:
I got the good news last week that I can buy back at class 2 after initially applying in July 23. I still have a UK bank account so was going to pay from that. Does anyone know if they accept a card payment over the phone? If I do a bank transfer is there any way of specifying the years that im paying? There is one year (2007) that I can buy back at class 3 and I don’t want to pay that one. So I need to make sure that they are allocating the payments to the correct years. Many thanks
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So just to update. I was able to pay online , the details of how to pay are on the website. I paid six out of the 11 years that I owed them . I called them and got through after about 40 minutes of waiting. Very helpful lady. She said it could be about 6 months before the payments will be allocated to my account. I asked her would I have to call again to allocate the years of payments. She said that she will put a note on my file to allocate my payments in order of years with the oldest going first. All in all it’s a good process that they have
 
I only worked about 18 months in UK back around year 2000. I applied to make voluntary contributions almost 2 years ago or more based on information from this site. A few months later I received a letter back saying I did not qualify because I did not fulfill the 3 year minimum work in UK requirement but could make up this requirement by combining payments to social insurance of another qualifying EEA country and providing proof of this. I was unsure if this would actually work but I sent back my PRSI contribution record which showed contributions of PRSI after I left UK. I heard nothing back for almost 18 months or more and had given up hope of qualifying for this. However today I received a letter saying they had accepted my application to make voluntary NI contributions and that I already have 5 qualifying years of NICs but I will need at least 10 years NICs to qualify for a UK pension. I can buy back years all the way back to 2006 for a cost of £824 per year.

I was delighted that I ended up qualifying even if it means paying the more expensive rate of £824 per year, probably going to buy back at least 10 years and then buy each extra year up to retirement. Thanks for all the advice I got on this site for doing this especially the advice to send in an application even if you don't meet the 3 years work in UK minimum requirement.
 
i see from the information on this site that I can buy back 18 years contributions up to 5 april 2025 but after this date i can only buy back 6 years. Does this mean that I could say buy back 13 years before 5 april 2025 but next year after april 2025 i could still buy back another 6 or say buy back 2 years every year for next 6 years in order to make up shortfall rather than having to buy back the full 18 years contributions in one lump before 5 april 2025?
 
joe sod said:
i see from the information on this site that I can buy back 18 years contributions up to 5 april 2025 but after this date i can only buy back 6 years. Does this mean that I could say buy back 13 years before 5 april 2025 but next year after april 2025 i could still buy back another 6 or say buy back 2 years every year for next 6 years in order to make up shortfall rather than having to buy back the full 18 years contributions in one lump before 5 april 2025?
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Yes the years up to 2018-2019 have to be bought before April 2025. After that you can only go back 6 years from whatever year you are in
 
SashaGG said:
Yes the years up to 2018-2019 have to be bought before April 2025. After that you can only go back 6 years from whatever year you are in
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thanks for that, but on my letter it shows only after year 2019 you can buy back before april 2026, april 2027 and so on, on this column it has heading "final time limit" however on the column before it has heading title "Payment date without penalty" and it has date april 2025 the whole way down including years from 2019 to 2024, so does this mean that you can buy these years back after april 2025 but only by paying an additional penalty?
 
joe sod said:
thanks for that, but on my letter it shows only after year 2019 you can buy back before april 2026, april 2027 and so on, on this column it has heading "final time limit" however on the column before it has heading title "Payment date without penalty" and it has date april 2025 the whole way down including years from 2019 to 2024, so does this mean that you can buy these years back after april 2025 but only by paying an additional penalty?
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Yes you are right. Mine also says that. It may be some stock phrase just to cover themselves in case the price rises or something. But I’m not sure
 
Hi I have just completed form CF83 online and at the end it says submit online. I saw back along that people seemed to post it by registered post - which is best to do? Is this a new thing?
 
Online form appears to be working well. If you need to send follow up documentation you can do so by post.
 
JohnMM said:
I recommend completing the CF 83 form and trying to get moved to class 2 as these are significantly cheaper - it takes time but is about 20% of the cost involved. But do this quickly as there is a deadline of April 2025 on some years and as I said they are slow!
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But surely whether you are class 2 or 3 is fairly clear cut. What grounds could you successfully argue you should pay at class2
 
joe sod said:
I only worked about 18 months in UK back around year 2000. I applied to make voluntary contributions almost 2 years ago or more based on information from this site. A few months later I received a letter back saying I did not qualify because I did not fulfill the 3 year minimum work in UK requirement but could make up this requirement by combining payments to social insurance of another qualifying EEA country and providing proof of this. I was unsure if this would actually work but I sent back my PRSI contribution record which showed contributions of PRSI after I left UK. I heard nothing back for almost 18 months or more and had given up hope of qualifying for this. However today I received a letter saying they had accepted my application to make voluntary NI contributions and that I already have 5 qualifying years of NICs but I will need at least 10 years NICs to qualify for a UK pension. I can buy back years all the way back to 2006 for a cost of £824 per year.

I was delighted that I ended up qualifying even if it means paying the more expensive rate of £824 per year, probably going to buy back at least 10 years and then buy each extra year up to retirement. Thanks for all the advice I got on this site for doing this especially the advice to send in an application even if you don't meet the 3 years work in UK minimum requirement.
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Just another query the letter I received as I said above says that I have been accepted to pay voluntary contributions at class 3 and that I already have 5 qualifying years, it also shows all the years up to 2024 that I need to buy back if I choose to. However I thought it was just a simple application to buy back those years and send the money. However the CF83 form that they are asking to be completed is I think the same form I already filled in back in 2022 when I started all this, all the information about when I left UK and what jobs I worked at since I left UK I already supplied back then . I don't want to do all that again as then its just going around in circles and might conflict with information I already supplied 2 years ago? Surely at this stage I can just send the money along with my reference and NI number and then contacting them to allocate that money to the specific years. My record is all now there online which I can access with gateway number and I have my identity all completed?
 
I moved back from the UK in 2002 and since then have worked here in the public sector (a university), and so my final pension is linked to the Irish state pension (post-1995) scheme. However, in order to qualify for the full state pension amount here, which makes up part of my overall pension, I understand that I must have 2,080 reckonable contributions, which I will not now achieve (I am 60). I know that I am eligible to buy back UK years (I have applied for and received the relevant notice etc.), but before I do that I've been trying to discover if I would be better seeking to transfer my UK contributions towards my Irish state pension to add to my reckonable contributions, but nobody seems to know the answer. Any suggestions welcome.
 
Kcorourke said:
I moved back from the UK in 2002 and since then have worked here in the public sector (a university), and so my final pension is linked to the Irish state pension (post-1995) scheme. However, in order to qualify for the full state pension amount here, which makes up part of my overall pension, I understand that I must have 2,080 reckonable contributions, which I will not now achieve (I am 60). I know that I am eligible to buy back UK years (I have applied for and received the relevant notice etc.), but before I do that I've been trying to discover if I would be better seeking to transfer my UK contributions towards my Irish state pension to add to my reckonable contributions, but nobody seems to know the answer. Any suggestions welcome.
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You cannot "transfer" your UK contributions to your Irish state pension PRSI account. But you can use those UK contributions together with your Irish contributions to get a pro rata pension when you reach pension age.
Latest changes in the pension regulations give you also the right to work up to 70. That way you can increase your Irish PRSI amount as well.
I would pay into the UK pension as long as you can. You can draw separate pensions from both states without having to take refuge in a pro rata pension.
By the way- you do not need 2080 Irish PRSI contributions for an Irish pension. You need 2080 for a full Irish pension. For anything between 520 and 2080 PRSI contributions you get a percentage of the full pension. 520 contributions gives you 25%. 2080 gives you 100%. You will be somewhere between those figures.
 
Just to clarify the above point. I also won’t have the full 40 years contributions in Ireland as I have worked 12 in the UK. Can I put my 12 years NI contributions together with my 28 in Ireland and get the full Irish pension? Or will the Irish pensions authority say that the 12 years aren’t valid on the Irish system as I am already using them towards the UK pension? Many thanks
 
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