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

Stitcher said:
I did it online but from my own BOI account with the info in the letter. Although their account is sterling, you have to add extra to cover all the fees. I think I added an extra 30. I had to set them up as a Payee and wait 48 hours before i could pay as sum was over 1000.
Good luck
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Hi
Stitcher, when you set up the new payee ie HMRC , did you set it up as GB. If so where did you fill in your
NI number +IC+ Surname ect was it in one of the message boxes
 
Hi Spider9,
Do you mean sterling by GB? I think yes I did sayvtheir account was Sterling. But you still have to take into account exchange rates and fees and pay in Euros

Account name was 'HMRC NIC Receipts' as instructed

I filled in NI number etc in the 'My Ref No' field.

I rang recently as my payment still wasn't showing on the Gateway page and was told, yes it was there, and would be processed in due course, so am happy now it's all going OK behind the scenes.
 
DannyBoyD said:
Summary
If you lived in the UK for at least three years and worked there for at least some of this time.

You can make backdated contributions of National Insurance for up to 18 years which will cost you either £163 for each year purchased or £824 for each year purchased.

The UK state pension is £185 a week or £9,620 a year - and increases every year.
Each year purchased entitles you to an extra 1/35th of the UK State pension or an extra £185 a year.

Yes, that is right. For a once off payment of £163 or £824 now, you could get an extra £185 every year after retirement.
And you can continue making contributions up to retirement age.
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Hi DannyboyD,
Firstly, thanks very much for the very informative post. Can I just double check something in your figures though. Below you mention that each year purchased gets you an extra £185 per year. Should that not be £275 (9,620 divided by 35 rather than 9,620 divided by 52?) . I might have missed something so apologies if this is the case

The UK state pension is £185 a week or £9,620 a year - and increases every year.
Each year purchased entitles you to an extra 1/35th of the UK State pension or an extra £185 a year.

Yes, that is right. For a once off payment of £163 or £824 now, you could get an extra £185 every year after retirement.
And you can continue making contributions up to retirement age.
 
Hopefully in retirement we'll not be restricted to a 35 week year. Personally I'm hoping for many of the 52 week variety.

Should I get my coat?
 
DannyBoyD said:
Post was written a good while back, the pension amount has changed since then.
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Each year purchased entitles you to an extra 1/35th of the UK State pension or an extra £185 a year.

it was this line that I thought should have been 275. the actual amount might have changed but I think the 185 implies that you are entitled to 1/52th for each year of contributions. Again I might have misinterpreted something so apologies if that is the case
 
If they are taking 6 months to process payments, would bank drafts expire? Or is there only a 6 month limit for cheques?
 
Queries777 said:
If they are taking 6 months to process payments, would bank drafts expire? Or is there only a 6 month limit for cheques?
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I would suspect they take the funds immediately. It's just that it takes time for your record to be updated.

Worth ringing them to confirm. I rang recently and they confirmed that the payment (made by bank transfer) was visible on my record, it just hadn't been allocated to the appropriate years yet.
 
On the bank's end, if they have confirmed that it hasnt been cashed, does this seem to be normal? i.e. they do not cash the draft until they get to the person in the queue for assigning allocations. Doing direct bank transfer might be different but i am not sure.
 
https:// inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/ money/pensions-and-retirement/government-means-test-state-pension- 3250991

Something to keep in mind. It's already happening in Australia. It's ok buying back the cheaper class 2 contributions but I would be very wary buying back the much more expensive class three ones as once money is paid, you won't get it back in event of future means testing. I had to break up the link as system won't let me post in full.
 
PoundMan said:
I sent three separate payments for 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 using my GB sub-account within Wise. I decided to go with the IBAN (GB49 BARC 2020 4830 9447 93) for HMRC rather than the Sort Code (08 32 20) since my letter specifically said to use the 'Overseas Payments' method and directed me towards this section of the website:
https://www.gov.uk/pay-class-2-national-insurance/make-online-telephone-bank-transfer

I will keep an eye on it to see how long it takes to update and keep you guys posted.
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It has been eight weeks since I sent the payments, but my National Insurance record has not been updated and still shows gaps. I had set a reminder on my phone as the HMRC website said the following:

You do not need to contact HMRC to check your payment has been received.
It will appear on your National Insurance record. This can take up to 8 weeks.
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Any advice on how I can follow this up with HMRC? Is there a specific phone number I should call, for example?
 
PoundMan said:
It has been eight weeks since I sent the payments, but my National Insurance record has not been updated and still shows gaps. I had set a reminder on my phone as the HMRC website said the following:



Any advice on how I can follow this up with HMRC? Is there a specific phone number I should call, for example?
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I rang and they said it is taking 39 weeks to update. I paid in April and not updated. We have to trust it will be okay but it is hard not to worry.
 
As long as you have your proof of payment, I wouldn't stress too much.

Way back 40 pages ago, I recommended a paper file & keep hard copies of everything. Print off your annual payment confirmations and add those to your file.

Don't rely solely on email, your laptop, cloud, whatever.
 
My NI contributions have finally been backdated when I checked this morning. Paid mid March this year. Last checked mid August. Patience is a virtue .... I did not phone, email, etc - based on this thread I just left due process take place.
 
I paid in July and was starting to panic thinking it had gone astray… I shall hold off the panic for now…
 
Just checked mine and it is updated. Paid in April, June and Aug. Hubby's still not updated, his was paid in June and Aug.
 
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