Pensions info for people who were contracted out

[Frnc]

I assume having a pension counts as prepping.
This applies to people aged 45 to 70.
If you've been on a company pension that was contracted out, you might not get the full state pension. Well, if you do nothing, you definitely won't, unless you qualfy for top-up due to hardship.
I retired early. I was told that as I'd paid 25 years National Insurance I'd get my state pension. But what they didn't tell me was I'd need to pay voluntary contributions because I'd been contracted out in the past. Fortunately I found out and have been making payments for a few years. In fact I have paid 42 full years but stilll need to pay 2 more.
Well, apparently that's changing next April. After that you'll only be able to top up going back 6 years.
Getting the full pension, if you can, is a no-brainer as you make a profit (on your NI volutary payments) if you live more than 3 years after collecting your pension.
A year's contribution is £800. This buys you a pension of £275 a year.
The max you can get is about £185 a week. Some people will get topped up due to hardship I think.
More info here
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/lates ... on#pension
This is where you check what you're going to get, wheter you can top up etc
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-yo ... on/account

The weird thing is, my last 6 years are full years and my forecast says I need to pay for 2 more years (taking me to 44 full years). Well, 1 year takes me to next April, so the other year seems to contradict the article.

[pseudonym]

Timely reminder thanks for posting.

I have my forecast and I need 5 more years of voluntary contributions to get an extra £21 a week.

[jennyjj01]

A year's contribution is £800. This buys you a pension of £275 a year.
The max you can get is about £185 a week. Some people will get topped up due to hardship I think.
More info here
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/lates ... on#pension
This is where you check what you're going to get, wheter you can top up etc
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-yo ... on/account

The weird thing is, my last 6 years are full years and my forecast says I need to pay for 2 more years (taking me to 44 full years). Well, 1 year takes me to next April, so the other year seems to contradict the article.

It gets worse. Your scheme pension might drop by the "State Pension Offset" when your state pension starts. Check your scheme.

[jansman]

A year's contribution is £800. This buys you a pension of £275 a year.
The max you can get is about £185 a week. Some people will get topped up due to hardship I think.
More info here
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/lates ... on#pension
This is where you check what you're going to get, wheter you can top up etc
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-yo ... on/account

The weird thing is, my last 6 years are full years and my forecast says I need to pay for 2 more years (taking me to 44 full years). Well, 1 year takes me to next April, so the other year seems to contradict the article.

It gets worse. Your scheme pension might drop by the "State Pension Offset" when your state pension starts. Check your scheme.

Well there’s a surprise ! Not. The pension industry are manned by thieves in pinstripes. I have checked my state pension, and I am fully paid up. Thanks for the heads up Frnc.

[Nurseandy]

Yes, cheers for the heads up

[Frnc]

It gets worse. Your scheme pension might drop by the "State Pension Offset" when your state pension starts. Check your scheme.

Omg! Not heard of that. Think I'm OK.
Infation is a worry though as one only goes up 3% a year, and one doesn''t go up at all! They only add up to about £500 a month.
Inflation, please come down!

[jansman]

It gets worse. Your scheme pension might drop by the "State Pension Offset" when your state pension starts. Check your scheme.

Omg! Not heard of that. Think I'm OK.
Infation is a worry though as one only goes up 3% a year, and one doesn''t go up at all! They only add up to about £500 a month.
Inflation, please come down!

Sadly, inflation, worldwide, is here for the duration. Ironically, we are at 9%. Back in the 90’s we had 15.25 %. We thought 8% was comfortable! For as long as oil is scarce ( we have 4 million barrels of oil LESS in the world than in 2018 , plus more demand!) money = energy and energy = money. As for pensions; they could be a memory …

[Frnc]

Sadly, inflation, worldwide, is here for the duration. Ironically, we are at 9%. Back in the 90’s we had 15.25 %. We thought 8% was comfortable! For as long as oil is scarce ( we have 4 million barrels of oil LESS in the world than in 2018 , plus more demand!) money = energy and energy = money. As for pensions; they could be a memory …

Worrying. I did some research just now and found a couple or articles of interest. First was by the BoE. They said inflation is due to Covid restrictions ending, shortages due to Covid, sharp rise in oil and gas prices, Russia's invasion of Ukraine causing a rise in energy and food prices (Russia is the second largest oil exporting country in the world, I read somewhere), recent lockdown in China, and low unemployment in the UK. They expect inflation to peak at 10% this year and then gradually go down to 2% in 2 years. I hope it's no worse than that scenario. God knows how people survive hyperinflation like in Lebanon or Venezuela.
Second article was future energy predictions by BP. This outlook was mostly prepared before Russia invaded Ukraine. They appear to be fully on board with the IPCC, talking about the carbon budget and time running out. They show a range of scenarios which they call Net Zero, New Momentum and Accelerated. They expect global wind and solar to accelerate rapidly and get a fair bit cheaper (solar 50% cheaper by 2030, wind 20%). They justify a short term increase in liquid gas as helipng developing countries industrialise and move away from coal. In their New Momentum scenario though, global gas production keeps increasing, to 2050 I think. It falls quite rapidly after 2025 in the other two. Demand for oil is expected to increase to above its pre-COVID-19 level before falling further. However they say investment in new oil and gas is required for the next 30 years due to declines in existing production. They predict oil demand to fall by 10-30% over the next two decades mainly due to less use in road transport.
Links
https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/count ... k-2022.pdf
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowled ... eep-rising

[korolev]

I'm fully paid up, having worked 40 years (started age 16, retired aged 56). Wifey is a few months short so she enquired with the National Insurance mob and was told she could pay to top it up or wait and see if we have grandchildren and claim it as a carer if we look after them.

As for the Offset, its going to affect me as my pension was contracted out but we will be ok as we have enough coming in.

[Frnc]

I'm fully paid up, having worked 40 years (started age 16, retired aged 56). Wifey is a few months short so she enquired with the National Insurance mob and was told she could pay to top it up or wait and see if we have grandchildren and claim it as a carer if we look after them.

As for the Offset, its going to affect me as my pension was contracted out but we will be ok as we have enough coming in.

I looked for the State Pension Offset, only refereces I could find were from or about BT. There was a Government Pension Offset also, but that was do do with benefits claimants.
I also found an Express article which implied some people might be due extra money from their private pensions, but it could take years for the pensions companies to sort it out. It said the govt was trying to bring in a dashboard where you can see all your pensions in one place.
https://www.express.co.uk/finance/perso ... te-pension