Just a quick reminder, contracting out of AFPS ends next month. [Archive]

Al R

29th Mar 2016, 10:05

It'll mean less going into the bank.

Bleakly and desperately scrambling around looking for any positives, the state pension is intended to provide more (plenty of time for that to be moved). And you'll not be paying more than civvies (this brings you into line with their NIC) so that makes it hard to complain specifically about this. Because after all, we are in it together.

But really, on the back of waves of token pay increases, it's going to be a very bitter pill to swallow and for some, it'll mean actively cutting back instead of downplaying aspirations (which is the effect of those 1% pay increases). Lots of folk still don't know about it so if you have a Twitter account, please feel free to retweet it.

Chapeau.

https://twitter.com/raf_ifa/status/714747727251443712

Al R

29th Mar 2016, 14:37

Just tried the new state pension calculator, in beta. It's very good. If you're over fifty, give it a go - find out what the new state pension is estimated to give you, and when.

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

wokkamate

30th Mar 2016, 10:50

Quick question Al R; I am assuming that when we hit state pension age, post full military career, we get the full state pension on top of our military pension? In the case of the new state pension that is an extra £8093 at age 65 or 67 or 70 or whenever!

Onceapilot

30th Mar 2016, 11:18

Wokkamate,

AFAIK, you should get the state pension you have earned at state pension age. At present, a full state pension will require 35 years of qualifying NI payments but, I fully expect that level will increase to 50 qualifying years by the time that the state pension age reaches 70yo. Just my opinion

OAP

Melchett01

30th Mar 2016, 11:33

It's interesting to see that even the so called 'experts' don't seem to understand what's going on with the new NICs and the new State Pension.

Paul Johnson, Director of the IFS, was recently quoted in the DT as saying;
“Members of final salary occupational pension schemes and their employers will now be paying the same NI contributions as the rest of us.
"Since they will be building up just the same state pension rights this can only be right.”

Well that might be correct for individuals just starting out on their working life, but if reports are correct, those already well into their careers will be hit very hard by the contracting out, with even a short period contracted out, a year or 2 for example, leading to a hefty reduction in the new pension seemingly out of proportion to the time spent contracted out. I for one expect to get nothing close to the widely touted State Pension of £155 or whatever it is in a couple of decades time because of the time spent in AFPS.

I wonder if he conveniently forgot about this or just didn't realise ... politics or incompetence, which noose would you rather hang yourself with Mr Johnson?

4everAD

30th Mar 2016, 12:04

It's interesting to see that even the so called 'experts' don't seem to understand what's going on with the new NICs and the new State Pension.

Paul Johnson, Director of the IFS, was recently quoted in the DT as saying;

Well that might be correct for individuals just starting out on their working life, but if reports are correct, those already well into their careers will be hit very hard by the contracting out, with even a short period contracted out, a year or 2 for example, leading to a hefty reduction in the new pension seemingly out of proportion to the time spent contracted out. I for one expect to get nothing close to the widely touted State Pension of £155 or whatever it is in a couple of decades time because of the time spent in AFPS.

I wonder if he conveniently forgot about this or just didn't realise ... politics or incompetence, which noose would you rather hang yourself with Mr Johnson?
Indeed, I have 26 years contributions so far contracted ouy with no previous NICs. If I serve out my LOS30 I have no idea how short I will be for a full state pension. Do my years contracted out even count towards the required 35 years?

CoffmanStarter

30th Mar 2016, 12:18

It's a downright disgrace IMHO that you serving guys don't get support from the MOD/RAF with such important issues as Pensions and seemingly just left to figure it out yourselves ... No disrespect to Al and his valiant efforts on here.

Say what you like about 'HR Functions' in civvy street Corporates ... But the majority even manage to get that right ... There would be open revolt if they didn't.

Al R

30th Mar 2016, 22:38

Coffman,

Absolutely no offence taken. To further prove your depressingly prescient point, Katie Morley possibly pulled a rabbit out of the hat with this one the other week.

The separation of NIC from HMRC and the fact that DWP and HMRC just don't work together has created, potentially, a holy mess. It will be interesting to see if MoD still keeps records (post 2012, it wasn't required to do so) and whether the data that it does hold on you, in respect of your Guaranteed Minimum Pension, equates to that which the government assumes you have.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/12143174/Four-million-people-retiring-from-April-could-get-the-wrong-state-pension.html

In 2008, there was a big drive to empower SP financially. That seems to have withered on the vine though.

Al R

30th Mar 2016, 22:43

Melchett,

It's a complete disaster. This news crept out over the Easter weekend.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35904417

Al R

30th Mar 2016, 22:58

OAP,

I think it'll be seventy five in very quick order. I spoke with someone at the Treasury - what it's gearing up for is the next public sector pension slash and burn. The lifetime ISA will herald the end of the pension, as we know it, for those about to join the workplace.

If we want to see how the Tories tacitly see retirement 'evolving', look no further than its left field mouthpiece, floating the idea a week ago. To an extent, a pragmatic reality check (after all, we know affordability is long past the point of being a contentious debating point) but the evangelical fervour with which it conceptualises the future, makes for depressing reading.

http://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2016/03/we-should-face-up-to-the-end-of-retirement.html

The entire concept of ‘a retirement’ is, after all, an artefact of the welfare system. It was clumsy of the original architects of pensions to base their end-of-life benefit on a fixed age, rather than need. That the pension age then fell so far behind life expectancy was politically inevitable, but the consequences have caught up with us. Simply put, today’s young people face the fact that they will not have a long retirement. The state cannot afford for an increasing number of physically able older people to drop out of the workforce years, or decades, before they need do so.

In the future, the idea of decades of life out of work will probably seem as unreal as the old, final-salary corporate pensions of the yesteryear do today, a few public-sector holdouts notwithstanding. As medical advances help us stay active longer, the expectation in the future must surely be that whilst you can work, you work – unless you can save enough to pay for a period of idleness yourself. We have already started in that direction: where once the retirement age was a guillotine that fell across a person’s career, it is now simply a milestone at which one unlocks an entitlement. Eventually it will not even be that.

These additional years in work, combined with measures such as the Lifetime ISA to encourage life-long saving, will afford people more time to accrue the money they need to provide for themselves in their twilight years. Meanwhile the original function of the state pension – to provide for those incapable of supporting themselves financially from the end of work until they died – could be served by some form of needs-based infirmity payment.

Melchett01

31st Mar 2016, 06:12

Al,

An interesting post from Conservative Home there. And I use the word interesting in the same way one might use the word egregious to describe someone like politicians or Treasury officials. The use of the word 'idleness' will surely get peoples' backs up and probably isn't the way to get people on board after a 40-50 years of slogging away, before spending their final years with family and doing things they want to do rather than have to do. And whilst they may have a point about the general direction of travel vis-a- via life expectancy and affordability, I wouldn't be at all surprised if any Govt that decided to pull the plug on pensions retrospectively after people have contributed via NICs (I do realise they pay for current rather than future liabilities) wasn't challenged, both in the Commons (more likely if we continue to move towards a true multi-party system with smaller majorities & Coalitions) and in the courts.

But what really astounds me about the Conservative Home post is that they talk as though they genuinely believe that Govt policy on pensions, savings and retirement etc is coherent and that this plan will actually work. It's nothing of the sort and you only have to look at the example of politicians on the one hand extolling the virtue of responsibility and saving for the future whilst simultaneously doing everything they can to tax us into penury and wrap us up in red tape. The public will only accept what is being discussed here when the politicians accept that they need to stop screwing people over to plug the gaps due to their fiscal incompetence.

downsizer

31st Mar 2016, 07:12

So if someone served 30 years in the armed forces, how many years of NICs would that amount to?

CoffmanStarter

31st Mar 2016, 07:49

Al ...

AOC 1 Group recently Tweeted ...

2 days with the leadership of 1Gp discussing how to deal with the significant challenges ahead in 2016/17. People 1st across the Whole Force

My Bold Text.

I would have thought that providing effective/timely pension information/support should be an important item on any 'People 1st' Agenda ... It's a basic employment responsibility.

Onceapilot

1st Apr 2016, 09:04

PARALLEL TRACK

1st Apr 2016, 12:27

MPN11

1st Apr 2016, 15:58

No idea how it works now, but as a datum I did something like 29 years [over 21] and then 5 of paid voluntary work. I get £121 a month.

JEMster

2nd Apr 2016, 12:12

Just been on the beta UK Gov pension calculator. It came out with £155 ish at age 67. My details are 37 years contributions so far - 2 civil service, 34 military, 1 civil employment.

Am I right in thinking that the reduced NIC I have paid will reduce that figure once they get factored in?

//trk

If you are retiring and collecting the new state pension now after a career of only lower opted out NI contributions then your pension will be lower than those who had not opted out. However, if you are still some years away from national retirement age then any 'full' NI contributions made from now onwards will serve to increase your final pension amount. Very broadly speaking, if you are still 10 or more years away from the national retirement age and make another 10 years full contributions and then have enough total years contributions for a full pension then you will get the full pension. Hence why the calculators might be showing higher amounts than you expect.

Tinribs

2nd Apr 2016, 18:52

Back in the old days the service opted out of the state pension system, we all thought, and were encouraged to think, you just lost the increased element earned by higher pay levels and paid a lower NIC, WRONG.

That's why it was called State Earning Related Pensions System. Only when you reached retirement age did you discover that you earned no state pension credit for those years and because you were no longer earning you could not buy them back.

My state pension is reduced by £95 per week for the lost years of contributions but naturaly I am happy to know it helps the service meet the deffence need

Ali Barber

3rd Apr 2016, 08:48

Forgive my total ignorance, but do I understand correctly that all military service was "opted out" so you get nothing for years contributed to state pension? I did 37 years and now working abroad so not paying any more NI. Does that mean I'll get nothing?

Al R

3rd Apr 2016, 08:55

Hi Al,

Yes, I expect the moving goalposts will continue with increasing the age and qualifying work years for state pension. Let's face it, there has been little voter rebellion to the huge change in female state pension age due, I think, to the fact that it has not yet effected many ordinary people. But, it will! I do not think many people realise that the present delay of female state pension age has cost all future female OAP's around £50,000! One important factor that is purposely not highlighted is, that living longer (alegedly) in old-age does not make you suitable for productive work in old age. Cheers

OAP

My Twitter timeline is full of people angered by a) me, and b) my attitude to the WASPI thing. I was called racist, sexist, mysoginist.. you name it (the little poppets didn't realise I had my skin leathered and tanned in a gunshed). Gender is now not even used to level previously undulating and unfair aspects of retirement planning; now, it seeks promote the gender as you would promote any other niche lobby. To my mind, far more important than gender when determining the nature of one's state pension are postcode, occupation and health. For women currently in their fifties/sixties to assume that women in their early twenties must work until they're seventy five or older, because they want to pick and mix aspects of gender equality, is the height of selfish arrogance. I'm well familiar with the intricacies of the WASPI campaign; and I am all for helping those with a plausible case. But not a blanket reversion, which is what the campaign seeks.

PARALLEL TRACK

4th Apr 2016, 11:52

ALCON

If one serves as a serviceman from age 18 to 60 paying lower rate NICs for the majority of that time (say 35 years plus) and does not work from age 60 to 67 will he get a greatly reduced state pension? Yes or no?

Regards

//trk

Al R

5th Apr 2016, 06:09

It's not that simple alas. But in principle, for most people, the time and the specific years that you spent contracted out and what the legislation was at the time, won't count towards your state pension. Henry is one of, if not the most credible commentators on state pension provision.

http://henrytapper.com/2016/04/04/the-new-state-pension-winners-and-losers/

Voxpop

5th Apr 2016, 07:46

DWP are going to write to you telling you your 'foundation amount' as at 6 April 2016 - so that is what you have built up so far in the old arrangement - then the higher rate NICs will build on that 'foundation amount'.

Army Mover

5th Apr 2016, 15:46

@//trk

A ex-colleague of mine in those circumstances had his State Pension reduced to £75 p/week.

November4

5th Apr 2016, 18:32

I have over 35 years NI contributions but 28 of those years were contracted out. I have 15 years left until I can claim the state pension so should be able to build up 20 years of non-contributed out NI. From what I can see, my projected state pension (at today's rate) will be going from the current £115 per week to £89 from tomorrow.

A loss of over £1,300 per year from my pension plans.

Editted as I was wrong

F.O.D

5th Apr 2016, 19:18

As I understand it, the DWP will compare what one has accrued under the old state pension scheme with the new single tier pension (which will be lower for Service personnel because of the Contracted Out reduction). The higher of the two figures will be the basis for future pension rights (was called the "foundation amount"). From today, every extra year one pays the full NI rate equates to an increase of £4.40 approx additional pension per week(not including any indexing) on top of the foundation amount. Someone who has 30 years of contributions, even contracted out, will have accrued approx £119 on the old scheme. If they work an additional 10 years from 2016, they should therefore be eligible for the full single tier pension. The govt pension service is running a state pension forecast "beta" service which will calculate your current and projected pension entitlement under the new state pension scheme.

F.O.D

5th Apr 2016, 19:22

The internet address for the new state pension forecast is: www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

There are a series of security hoops to jump through but you can get an immediate forecast online.

November4

5th Apr 2016, 19:37

Thanks FOD - so not as bad as I feared then. I used pension forecast site and it told me that I will get the full amount of the new pension because of my 35 years of contributions. What it doesn't take into account is contracting out in it's calculations. I rang the telephone number (0345 3000 1681) for a forecast and explained that I was ex-Forces. The response was that they will only be able to tell me the same as the online forecast but did agree that it was wrong due to the contracting out.

It's about time the Government sent out accurate forecasts to everyone - every year, they tell me how my taxes are spent so should be able to tell me what my NI contributions will give me as a pension.

F.O.D

5th Apr 2016, 20:20

I understood that the gov.uk pension site did take the contracting out into account - I think it did with my forecast today. Someone with 35 years of NI (contracted out) will get £119 on the old system which is more that the £70 or less one would be entitled to under the new scheme. These two figures are then compared and the higher figure is the starting amount. I got the terminology wrong earlier as the higher of the two calculations is called the pension "Starting Amount" and not the "foundation Amount" as it was previously known as. Any additional years of NI accrued in future under the new scheme get added to the "starting amount" at a rate of about £4.40 per week per year of NI paid.

One thing is sure, the new scheme is going to be fiendishly complicated for a few years. I have yet to meet a politician who understands it fully.

November4

5th Apr 2016, 20:40

Thanks again FOD - I understand it now. I misunderstood what contracting out meant and how it added to the SERPS / S2P rather than the basic state pension.

Orignal posts editted as I was wrong.

WK622

6th Apr 2016, 08:21

Does anyone know when the MOD contracted us out?

Also, am I right that service before age 18 i.e. apprentice training, counts for nothing from a pension perspective?

m0nkfish

6th Apr 2016, 12:22

My simple pilot brain is struggling to understand how the state pension works. I've run through the calculator and its saying that I will get the full 155.65 in about 30 years time when I eventually hit retirement age (assuming I haven't died of liver failure). The amount is made up of state pension and something called COPE. But it seems that when the COPE, which appears to be the private contribution towards your pension from your contracted out scheme, goes up then the state pension amount goes down. In simple terms, I always assumed (maybe wrongly) that when I hit retirement age I would get my Armed Forces pension (amounts as per the estimate on the AFPS online calculator) plus a state pension (based on NI contributions) but the GOV.UK estimate site seems to suggest they will wind back my state pension if the AFPS amount is big enough. Is this correct or am I misunderstanding this?

Al R

6th Apr 2016, 12:44

AFPS is only 'big enough' or rather, it's only the size that it is, because of the contracted out element. The argument goes that in the past it has only been as generous as it was because you were contracted out, and that, in theory, if you weren't contracted out then you would get a larger basic state pension provision and subsequently, a smaller occupational one. I assume that's what you're referring to in your final point and not means testing. But that's another topic.. :(

COPE - pages 10-14 refer: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/512799/your-state-pension-statement-explained-dwp042.pdf

Onceapilot

6th Apr 2016, 16:45

4everAD

7th Apr 2016, 11:46

I don't think you'd have a blade of grass to stand on, on that one. I've always known I've paid less NI for having a military pension accruing.
I think you are probably in the minority there as no one I have spoken to was even aware of what "contracted out" was until this raised it's head (including me).

Al R

7th Apr 2016, 12:02

Hi Al!

Am I correct to say that Service personel are financially injured by this retrospective change in state pension law and, that personel had no choice in the way that their NI was charged during their service?:oh: If so, is this not a breach of the "Military covenant" that DC should correct?

OAP

The state will suggest that by paying less NIC SP were advantaged. It'd be a difficult sell, nigh on impossible, to suggest that levelling the playing field is a bad thing. Similar examples of unfairness might be the raising of the VAT level.. annoyingly sickening in itself, but it might be said it disproportionately benefited those who have to spend a bigger proportion of their income on zero rated goods (childrens clothes etc). Ultimately, skewing, rather than unfairness, happens all the time. Hopefully, in the wash, it all comes out ok.

On another note, this revised guidance is useful for everyone serving overseas, and who has a co-located partner. Thanks to Navy Phil for bringing it to my attention.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-credits-for-partners-of-armed-forces-personnel-overseas-after-6-april-1975

Al R

7th Apr 2016, 12:05

I think you are probably in the minority there as no one I have spoken to was even aware of what "contracted out" was until this raised it's head (including me).

:sad: Sorry. Ignorance can be bliss!

F.O.D

7th Apr 2016, 14:31

Thanks Al,

I had an e-mail from Steve Webb about 4 years ago assuring me that they would change the system to allow wives of Service personnel posted overseas to claim NI credits. It all went quiet, but I have today claimed Class 3 NI credits for Mrs F.O.D for several years in the 80s and 2000s when we were in RAF Germany and Belgium. Hurrah - It will all help to maximise the New State Pension entitlement. It would appear that you can apply on-line as far back as 1975. Hope that helps for other old timers like me!

Onceapilot

7th Apr 2016, 18:32

Thanks for your thoughts Al!:ok: Beware though, you might be falling for some of the revisionist political tripe, if you believe the "it all comes out in the wash" cobblers.:* TBH, I cannot honestly ever remember being given any choice whatsoever about my NIC when in the Service? Can that be correct? Did I have any choice? And, if I had a choice, I was not informed!:mad: So, now that I am to be penalised retrospectively, I call again for, "The Military Covenant" to be invoked!:) Speak up, DC.............:rolleyes:

OAP

Onceapilot

7th Apr 2016, 18:42

Hi FOD,
Yes, those changes are a bonus, but one that was promised. Bear in mind though that Mrs FOD is probably delayed in her right to a state pension by 7, or so, years from what she might have expected and, the qualifying years for a full state pension have risen from 30 to 35. Overall, this will probably have cost her around £50,000. :oh:

OAP

Background Noise

15th Apr 2016, 17:37

Al R - and other experts,

So I now realise that I won't get the full £155 state pension, as my service NI contributions were apparently not at the full rate because of contracting out - but that is offset by getting a bigger service pension than I would have got if I had been contracted in. So overall, I am better off - I think!

It would help if the gov.uk pension forecaster and NI record showed those reduced contributions. My NI record shows that I have 36 'full' years of contributions, but that I will get somewhat less than the full £155 pw. It would help if it said that some, or all, of those years were somewhat less than 'full' contributions.

It also gives me the option to top recent unpaid years, and gives an amount that I can cough up for the last FY:

You can make up the shortfall

Pay a voluntary contribution of £722.80 by 5 April 2023. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2019.

But it does not indicate how much that would increase my state pension. Is there any way of finding out how much I would need to top it up to get the full state pension - or, conversely, how much I might gain from how much top-up?

And why might the shortfall increase after Apr 2019?

late-joiner

16th Apr 2016, 14:30

I did a full (almost) career from ages 18 to 54. Since then I have been paying myself £6k a year and drawing AFPS 05 EDP. So the £6k means I am counted as making NI contribs, albeit level is £0. The forecast is showing I will get £152.08 if I continue with qualifying years and if I pay £626.60 for the missing year it will take my state pension up to the maximum. The missing year is the one after I left the Services when I was not working. I only have to live 4 years after I pay the extra to make it worthwhile.

If the forecast is correct, it actually looks ok for me. That should mean most people will have time after they retire to make enough contributions if they choose to do so.

Background Noise

17th Apr 2016, 18:50

That's interesting that the £600 appears to give you an extra £3 pw - also interesting is that my missing year is quoted as £722 extra to pay.

I find it surprising that £0 per year contributions would count towards your pension give that our contracted out rate, which was still considerably more than £0, doesn't get us more that the basic state pension.

late-joiner

17th Apr 2016, 23:14

It is one of the quirks of the system that you are counted as contributing to NI if you are paid above the 'Lower Earnings Limit' but real contributions do not get deducted from your pay until you hit the 'Primary Threshold", which is higher.

I am guessing that a DCF sum might be done to get the current value of a particular year that was missed when they give you a cost to make it up.

2Planks

5th May 2016, 20:57

Its handy to get an on-line forecast but there is some way to go before it is perfect. I have 33 years of NI most of which was my time in the RAF for which I was contracted out; I am assuming my time in a supermarket, behind a bar and a season at Butlins was contracted in. Currently I am forecast to get 119.81 out of the maximum 155.65. It does state I was contracted out so that my amount is less than someone who was not contracted out but it doesn't say by how much. Neither does it say how many more years I actually have to contribute (I am currently fully retired) to get to the 155.65. I can buy year 13/14 for 704.60 and 14/15 for 722.80. So I can't do any informed maths as to whether it would be worth spending an unknown number of 700 quid lumps to gain an extra 35 quid a week when I am ancient.
It must be time for a beer......

F.O.D

7th May 2016, 09:19

I agree, the new state pension forecast is very short on detail. In particular, there is no working out shown to illustrate how the forecast pension has actually been calculated. I am guessing, because every one has a different NI history, but for most personnel who were contracted out for most of their working lives, there is little point in buying extra NI contributions relating to before April 2016 if they have already achieved the 30 year basic pension qualification time under the old scheme. It may be worth paying NI or working beyond 2016 to achieve the extra pension under the new scheme now that an individuals "foundation or starting" pension amount has been established, and that each extra year of NI from now on entitles one to about £4.40 per week extra until you get to the £155 single tier weekly pension amount. You could always try writing to DWP to see if they would tell you exactly how they worked out your forecast.

fin1012

9th May 2016, 09:14

I don't understand why there is an apparent linkage between the size of my AFPS pension and whether I was contracted out (someone said that contracting out allowed afps to pay me more). By that argument, the fact that everyone is paying full NIC from now on should mean that afps pays out less in the future. I have a private pension that can be as large or small as I like (within annual and lifetime limits etc) and that is not at all affected by whether I am contracted in or out. I consider my AFPS pension to be just a company pension that happens to be paid by the MOD. Does British Telecom pay more or less to its company pension scheme members depending on whether they are contracted in or out? Or have I missed the point altogether?

Willard Whyte

10th May 2016, 16:58

Does British Telecom pay more or less to its company pension scheme members depending on whether they are contracted in or out? Or have I missed the point altogether?

I can't speak for BT, but...

...the railway pension is a salary sacrifice final salary pension. Until April this year the (contracted out) sacrifice was 10.64% of (basic salary)-(state pension).

Fom April onwards it was decided that as employees would pay more NI the sacrifice would be reduced to circa 8.5% (I don't have the exact figures to hand).

The rail pension is payable at (final salary-1.5x(state pension))x(years accrued*/60). The reduced sacrifice will supposedly match the reduced railway pension with the increased state pension to give an overall (rail plus state) pension of a similar amount for any given wage.

*to a maximum of 40 years

Much like other final salary schemes that changed (AFPS '15 for example), employees will have accrued a guaranteed certain amount before a given date, and will accrue it at a different rate thereafter.

Strumble Head

10th May 2016, 17:37

Does British Telecom pay more or less to its company pension scheme members depending on whether they are contracted in or out? Or have I missed the point altogether?

Hi, I do work for BT (please, not British Telecom - that name went out with good old Buzby.) And yes, BT moved those in it's older 'defined benefits' pension schemes back into 'Contracted In' status from being previously 'Contracted Out' when the pension rules changed.
For info, it is possible to work out what your entitlement to the new State Pension is from information on line - but boy, is it hard work to knit it all together.
And as an ex-member of the RAuxAF (now partly rebranded to 'RAF Reserves) it was vastly entertaining when MoD was forced to admit that the base pay for reservists, in common with that for those in regular service, was abated in recognition of the pension contibutions made by 'the employer' (i.e. MoD) - when they've never ever made any such contributions for reservists. Hey ho.

Just This Once...

10th May 2016, 17:54

Even regulars can get stung for both 'pay abatement' and contracted-out NI whilst actually accruing zero pension entitlement. In my case this was for 3 years service before the age of 21 on AFPS75.

F.O.D

10th May 2016, 18:01

On the bright side, Mrs F.O.D had a letter from HMRC yesterday approving her request for NI credits for her time overseas accompanying me on posting to Germany and Belgium decades ago - result!

Just to remind everyone that you can backdate claims for wives NI credit whilst on accompanied tours overseas as far back as the 1970s so it is a good way to build up state pension entitlement for wives who weren't working or claiming child benefit at the time.

Sandy Parts

11th May 2016, 09:21

Cheers F.O.D - just emailed my old man the link - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-credits-for-partners-of-armed-forces-personnel-overseas-after-6-april-1975/class-3-national-insurance-credits-for-spouses-or-civil-partners-of-members-of-her-majestys-armed-forces-on-an-accompanied-assignment-outside-the-uni
Don't think he is aware and will certainly chase up.

fin1012

12th May 2016, 13:02

Haha - I thought the new system was supposed to be simple. I suppose once all us inconvenient transitioners have died off it will be - but I'm sure they will have changed the system several times by then

pamac51

16th May 2016, 12:52

Just got my State pension.....37.5 RAF + 1 civvy st = £126.99 pw. Joy Joy!!!

Al R

28th Jul 2016, 13:39

If you consider doing so appropriate, the online HMRC service which allows you to declare pension protection has just gone live.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pension-schemes-protect-your-lifetime-allowance

Mickj3

30th Jul 2016, 01:31

Reference claiming NI credits for wives overseas back to 1972. Just had a letter back from HRMC saying that they are unable to credit my wife with the six & a half years she claimed as she reached state pension age before 6 April 2016. apparently it is tied in with the new state pension and only men born after 6/4/1951 and women after 6/4/1953 can benefit.

teej013

1st Aug 2016, 19:34

Most of the question asked here are answered in the DWP booklet "Your State Pension Explained", Google DWP042, and download it as a .pdf from the .gov site.

You can get a State Pension Statement by crayoning in the form BR19, or search for "State Pension Statement". This gives you the date you will reach state pension age,qualifying years,weekly pension amount & amount deducted if you were contracted out, (COPE).

You can also check your National Insurance Record by filling in the online form at the .gov site, search for NIStatement. This will show you any gaps in your record, what your qualifying years are, any years you can pay for, what it will cost & the date you have to pay by.

You get 1/35th of the full state pension for every year that you pay, at present this works out at £4.45 per week per year paid.