Late 50's and early 60's

[BillQ]

If you are getting to this stage and have had periods of unemployment/not paying NI, please check if you are short of qualifying years and what you will get. 

You have until the end of the financial year or you lose a year or part of a year as you can only go back a certain amount of years depending on whether you are employed or self employed etc

It's easy to check online and if it is a bit confusing then there is the phone line and the guy who I spoke to was very good he was basically saying, without saying, that I would be end up throwing a few thousand pounds in the tax coffers for a very small return over a long time compared to what I could do with the money now. 

[spudulike]

Blimey, he has turned in to Martin Lewis but on a serious note, he is spot on. You need 35 years of paid up NI, if you opted out of SERPs or are not sure and need to check, you can do so but may need your self employment Government Gateway info or a phone call.

 

[BillQ]

45 minutes ago, spudulike said:

You need 35 years of paid up NI,

I have over 37 and a couple of partial years but due to changes in 2016 I needed more however the incremental increases added to the tax on top of my current pension doesn't make much difference when my savings could be making money at the same time so for me it is not really worthwhile but for some it could mean quite a lot.

[Steven P]

Got to look at the numbers, I reckon it would be pointless adding in if I was about to retire in a couple of years and had the spare cash - keep that cash and take less cash out the private pensions. Not sure though if I had the cash whether topping up the private pension or state pension would pay off better - would need to guess how long I'll to for, and if all the private stuff will go on till the end like the stat pension will. Tricky!!