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

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.
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.
 
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.
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
 
I'm just curious, I've completed the form CF83 online ( just 2 weeks ago ) and I can see it on the website as being completed - how long before they get back to me telling me what to do next? whether I'm Class 2 or not? how many years I can buy back?

thanks
 
You cannot combine contributions. You will get a pension from each country.
Yes I know about the British one but the Irish one is less clear. It’s hard to find info online as to if my years in Uk will go towards my Irish one also. As I won’t have the 40 years on retirement
 
The Irish Social Welfare will calculate your pension entitlements as the higher of

1. Your pension entitlement based solely on your Irish PRSI contribution

2. Your pension entitlement based on your total pension contributions in Ireland, the UK and the EU. This amount will be reduced by the proportion of your pension payments in Ireland to the total of your pension payments in total
In most cases, this will be inferior to the amount in 1.
 
Edited as part answered. For questions on "due to law changes...call us" is covered in thread (search shortfall)

Remaing question; I got the letter it says accepted for class 2 on page one, then on page 2 it shows a table with a number of years with title class 3 NIC shortfall rates. Is this normal? I expect to be class 2 and that page 1 is correct. It also provides no "next steps" comment
 
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Sorry now if this has been answered but I have read and don’t remember seeing this. I registered for HRMC in November 2023. I have 5 years. I got my ass in gear in June 2024 filled out CF83 with a letter and my Irish credit list to back up and it was received on the 8th July. I received this yesterday. Online it shows completed. I thought I’d be waiting months. The letter clearly says I should be filling out a CF83, which I already did. Should I be waiting for them the get to my CF83 and then send me a list of years from 2006 that I can buy back? Or does this mean they don’t have the CF83 I sent? My intention if I could was to pay for as many years as I could now at class 2 and then do it annually. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Zi
 

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That's odd, to me in any case.

When I received my letter it included a table listing each year from 2006 and the fact that I was eligible to pay at class 2 for each of them. That said I'm pretty sure I remember at least one person posting that they received 2 letters in quick succession.
 
Ah possibly. I can’t believe I’ve had any response so quickly and only received this yesterday so might get another letter next week. Delighted to be allowed to pay class 2 going forward. Do I go ahead and start paying annually and let the other stuff happen when it happens? Obviously I will phone or message in a couple of weeks if I don’t get another letter.
 
OMG I’m a clown, but in fairness to me I’m away with the kids and my husband sent me the pics when I asked him to open the letter. This was on the back of page 1. Happy days… Sorry for wasting peoples time! I can’t get over how quick this was, great thread.
 

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Lastl, can anybody direct me to the post where somebody transferred through revolut to the HRMC account? This seems to me to be the easiest, I can add up and have the exact uk amount on Revolut before I transfer.
 
2000/2001/2002.
Hi just out of interest as I am in a very similar position to yourself, did you actually work those full 3 years in UK? just that they allowed you pay at class2 thats all, Im just trying to figure out how they differentiate. I also qualified to pay at class 3 and I worked in ireland on return from Uk but I actually didn't work a full 3 years in UK only less than 2 years .
I
 
Hi just out of interest as I am in a very similar position to yourself, did you actually work those full 3 years in UK? just that they allowed you pay at class2 thats all, Im just trying to figure out how they differentiate. I also qualified to pay at class 3 and I worked in ireland on return from Uk but I actually didn't work a full 3 years in UK only less than 2 years .
I
I worked from sometime in the summer of 2000 to the end of the summer 2002, I was lucky that it spanned over 3 calendar years and 3 uk tax years. I also worked in Ireland during that time according to the documents I sent them, that was seasonal bar work when I went home to visit.
 
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