I think the deadline has been extended until end of July as there were call centre issues…
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Could you give me the NI line number?
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Hi, I had that problem.
- You can write to the NI office and request a statement
- For the Govt. ID you previously needed a UK Passport, NI number and either a UK address for some Check check, Driving Licence Picture card.
Well I have a UK passport, renewed twice, since leaving the UK.
The Govt. ID has changed their site and now you can authenication using the pictures submitted to the Passport Agency, the image stored on the chip in your passport and a live image of yourself.
I now have my UK Govt ID and can get an online statement of NÍ Contributions.
Next job see if my missing years from 2000-2022 can recognised as eligible for Class 2 contributions only, as I was overseas and not eligible to draw on any Health or Welfare services.
Then start making voluntary Class 2 contributions of £162 per year going forward to buy additional years of Pension rights between now & 67. This for me is a max of 12-years.
This is a no-brainier post Brexit for any ex-pat, with more 10 years contributions made before leaving the UK.
You can add a 1/35 to your pension for £163 per year, and take the UK Pension alongside your EU State pension in the country you currently reside.
For me I presently have 24-years of PRSI contributions for a full Irish State pension from 66/67/68 (moving goalposts) and now a UK State Pension from either 15/35 if I make no contributions and upto 27/35 if I start making Class 2 voluntary contributions.
I filled the forms in and submitted in 2022, had one response and are trying to get this in place.
What’s also sweet is, as a non UK resident, the UK Pension can be taken tax free. Along with employers pension payments that will start to be paid in 5-years time when I hit 60. But as a “Non-Dom” I am only taxed on Irish-sourced income and other income on a remittance basis. So if I don’t remit it, I don’t pay Income Tax on it.
All on the Web if you search…
NI - 0300 200 3500 (for info on making actual payments - to get the 18 digit code)
DWP - 0800 731 0181 (for general ‘advice’ - info also available on line )
Thanks.
“All on the Web if you search…” if someone has got the code easy, it’s clearly obvious to ask what number they got through on. E.G. The Future Pension Centre has a couple of numbers at least and the main one just cuts you off after holding for ages. The whole process is a farce to speak to anyone. Luckily it’s been extended.
Thanks again.
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Stating the Facts here… sorry… 
My investigation told me that the only way to get the 18 digit code, is to call them. I could not find a way to get the code, on line. Once you have it, its specific to the years and payment that you asked for. I was told you can reuse it, for other payments - but (as I already posted), you will need to call them to get this payment correctly allocated.
Once I spoke to a Human, I found them very helpful and easy to deal with…
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I’m coming to this party late so apologies if this has already been said and I missed it , but is the HMRC saying this is your pension (£185 in my case) but we will deduct the COPE (£62.32 in my case) so you get the net? And if that’s right, will the COPE increase as the pension increases with the triple lock or will it stay static and become a smaller proportion of the pension as NIC continues to be paid at the full rate until retirement in a few years time?
Keith
Contracted Out Pension Equivalent - ?
Yes Ian, I believe so
We’ve been through this saga for my wife who commenced her State Pension in Dec 22. She took early retirement a few years ago (LEA Teacher: voluntary redundancy) and has been receiving income from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
In order to boost her SP entitlement she has paid Voluntary Class 3 contributions to purchase several years (always limited to the last 6 years, as far we understood) with the earliest year being a “no-brainer” - only £338.40 - but later years being more of a gamble. Given the SP will attract Basic Rate tax (20%) it means a current full year cost of £824.20 (which presently buys SP of £5.29/wk gross ~ £4.232/wk net) will take 195 wks to pay for itself … i.e. close on 4 years. Of course we hope she has a long life 
but nothing in life is certain. With the forthcoming 10.1% increase in the SP then this pay-back period will be reduced.
She had previously had access to the HMRC Personal Tax Account which listed all years for which she had insufficient NI contributions and each such year advised how much was payable (plus a warning that the amount could increase after a certain date) and using this information, we wrote to HMRC as follows:
HMRC
PT Operations North East England
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AN
United Kingdom
Dear Sirs,
State Pension – Gaps: Year is Not Full
NAME (née NAME)
NI No. AB123456X
My on-line NI record shows:
2017-18: a payment of £824.20 is required for this year to count towards my entitlement to the (New) State Pension. I should be grateful if you would send me payment instructions so that I can remit this amount for the purpose of making this year count towards my (New) State Pension.
Yours faithfully,
In return she received a letter which detailed how to pay (incl. 18 digit reference number).
Where the problem arose was in having her payment allocated and we had to chase: telephone call, waiting 40+ minutes … but we did get this resolved and she now has the boosted SP (still not quite the full amount, despite having 44 years’ contributions 
)
BUT BEWARE: we gambled on understanding what was required - we could have got this wrong and, for example, we asked about making a payment for the current 2022/23 year. Had she paid for this then she would have received £Nil extra SP. The HMRC letter DID NOT explain this.
As for wait times:
We wrote 08 Aug 22 - HMRC reply dated 02 Sep, rec’d 07 Sep, on-line pay’t 07 Sep … the 2 years were added to her NI record very quickly
We wrote 26 Sep 22 - HMRC reply dated 02 Dec, rec’d 12 Dec, on-line pay’t 12 Dec … the 3 years were added to her NI record only after we telephoned 02 Feb 23
Clearly, the RM postal issues caused some delay but the delay in crediting the second payment was down to HMRC. Her NI record was updated by the next day and she received the extra SP due (backdated to her Dec birthday) very quickly thereafter.
In summary: this is a minefield so do be careful you don’t pay for years which will not add to your SP.
Also: whilst the HMRC Personal Tax Account website provides the relevant details re: missing years, etc. please note:
Once you reach 66 (or perhaps commence your SP … I’m not sure which) then these details disappear! I recommend that you take a screen print for your records - if you try to catch up later you may find you no longer have the relevant information.
Good luck!
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A option on the website is to ‘Print This NI Record’ - which you can print - or save as a pdf.
Simples… 
Checked on my NI records and found my payment had gone through, but had not been correctly allocated. One of the 2 years I paid for was still not showing as ‘full’.
So… had to call them. Despite what they say, its not something you can do anything about, on line. Warning was of a 60 minutes wait. It was about 65 minutes - but, once I got a human, it was very easy & quick.
The call to the NI line was PM yesterday - checking today, all is now correct…!!! Two additional years successfully paid for. Result… 
(Comparing to previously, I now have about £5 per week more. This was for a payment of around £1,500 - payback is in less than 1 year.)
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Excellent. That’s very good news; unfortunate it went wrong but it seems it was resolved efficiently. I’m about three years short of a full pension but I’m not going to buy the extra years. Mrs HH is also about three years short and we will definitely buy the extra for her. She’s retired from her main career but did some part time work this year, so we will wait to see how much it costs to top up 2022/23 before paying for a complete year. I’m assuming that if she has paid some NI this year, it will be cheaper to top up than to buy a full year. I hope that’s right!
It was only partly wrong. One year was 100% correct - which was an ‘empty’ year and is now 'full. The previous year was partly full already, but my additional payment had not been allocated. The human I spoke with quickly spotted what was wrong and fixed it. I was told to allow 72 hours for it to update, but it was showing correctly in less than 24.
The 1 hour on hold is still inexcusable.
I agree. It takes ages to get through to so many places, doctors, hospitals, banks, you name it. It’s really hard on the staff too, as customers can be really horrible to them, when it’s not their fault that the wait time is so long. Telephone service went downhill with Covid and hasn’t recovered in many cases. A phone call costs a company ten times as much as a web transaction, so it’s obvious why things are moving that way, but if some things cannot be done online, as in your case, it’s an issue.
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HMRC/NI claim a lot can be done on line. Not so, for anything to do with additional payment. All - apart from (ironically) the actual payment - has to be done over the phone.
I’m sure you spotted this, but it does give a date on how long the cost to repay is held for, so presumably after this date, the price will rise by inflation, which is potentially high. I’ve just paid one of my partial years, and put an alert in my diary next January to pay the other before it goes up
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No argument from me. I paid for my part year, plus the next year. I have until 2024 to pay for the next year on, if I wish. Probably will, tbd.
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I’m delaying paying to get another years interest on the money - it may pay for a meal down the pub 
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Two fascinating statistics from this ludicrous take-up campaign.
The latest stats on the phone line suggest that less than ten percent of calls are being answered. Of those applications processed thus far only thirty percept of applicants have benefitted i.e. seventy percent of applicants gain nothing from voluntary payment bar being relieved of some cash.