Hmm, just registered for the HM site and it’s a bit contradictory as well. Says I’ve got 30 years.
It looks like the YTS counted as some kind of credits but the 4 years I was an FT student with PT jobs I didn’t earn enough.
But the calculator still suggests I need another 8 years of NI, all I can think of is the 3 years in the private pension with the SERPS are possibly excluded, this would add up about right.
The state pension currently works about £5 PW for every year of NI, so a year or so less isn’t going to break the bank. And the Barclays pension might cover it
You all got me curious, so just registered to have a look. 34 full years for me, 4 not enough and 13 to go before I can reap the rewards. My 4 uni years didn’t get me enough but one of those had paid employment £9.16 and 14 weeks credits, what a great summer that was. All a bit irrelevant as I’ll be working for another 15 years, hopefully less hours. I did contract out for a few years (is there a claim for that or have I missed that boat) but it doesn’t seem to have affected those years.
what you get in your state pension is a great mystery! me and Mrs FB have been getting ours for a couple of years now and the big mystery is why I get more than her, despite both of us having a full qualifying period and having both paid NI for all years we worked and neither of had a period of unemployment. even when we were self employed in our own biz we paid the same amount of Class 4 NI.
we have given up trying to get the Pensions Service to explain it and just get on with it. in real terms it’s not a large amount of difference but its the fact it’s there is what pisses us off.
We’ve looked into your complaint and can confirm that Mrs Fatbudda’s pension amount is correct but we have been overpaying you, so you now need to pay it back
It is possible to get more than £175 per week as is the case with @TriCurious as he was contributing to the additional pension and therefore not contracting out.
In my case and in the case @AL1 and I think some others on here we did contract out so our maximum can only be £175. The amount we contracted out can be seen in the COPE estimate which is what got paid into your own pension scheme (probably with your employer). You will see that money (the COPE estimate) in the payments that you will eventually receive from that pension and not from the state pension.
Anyway this is my understanding having done a lot of googling over the past couple of weeks
Yes your situation sounds the same as mine. I’ve just four years left to get to £175 at which point I will be 62 and I am hoping to retire then. At this point I will be on my University pension until 67 from which point it is supplemented by the £175 from the state
Simple pension plan here, reach age of retirement or nearby, go and rob a bank/jewellers/place of high worth, if I get away with it I’ll live off the proceeds. If I fail the government will take care of me for free, three square meals and a roof over my head
an old school friend of mine’s plan was to spend all his money by retirement age and then get the government to look after him on benefits and state pension - his premise was that he’ll have paid enough tax over the years so he wanted a return on it from HM Gov. he kind of failed by becoming an Inspector in the police and getting a nice fat occupational pension plus state pension!
we only get the state pension but thankfully we locked a lot of money away in investments over the years of self employment so have that to fall back on. getting our hands on it is the hard part as a lot is locked away in property.
