Making payments into your UK State Pension to ensure you get a pension

Hip

Hip

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
SUMMARY: I am asking what are UK ME/CFS patients here doing about their State Pension contributions? Are you paying these out of your own savings?
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I developed ME/CFS as well as a whole set of mental health symptoms (depression, severe anhedonia, moderate to severe generalized anxiety disorder, and some mild psychosis on some days), as well as severe ADHD after a viral brain infection I had in 2005. This brain infection also caused some brain damage and some loss of mental faculties.

These symptoms and conditions were certainly severe enough to prevent me working, but I never attempted to get disability support such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP), as firstly I was hoping my health would soon improve and my brain would heal (which it has not to any great degree).

And secondly because I read that PIP discriminated against people with mental health, and that it was hard to get PIP if you have mental conditions. And I was certainly in far too frail a state of mental health to take on a fight with the PIP companies (Atos or Capita).

As a consequence, I've not had any state financial support since I developed ME/CFS and this array of mental health conditions. Fortunately I have been living with elderly parents (who are now in their 80s), and thus had very little daily expenditure.



But my question here is about UK State Pension contributions, which I have not paid since developing ME/CFS, due to not working.

In order to keep my State Pension up to date, I have been told by HM Revenue & Customs I need to pay the backdated contributions for the last 11 years, at a cost of around £700 per year. So that will amount to around £8,000. Unfortunately that will have to come out of my savings, as there does not seem to be any disability support for pension payments.

I read that even if you get PIP, it does not cover your UK State Pension contributions (though I understand your State Pension contributions are paid for you if you are receiving unemployment benefit).

So my question is, what are other UK ME/CFS patients here doing about their State Pension contributions? Are you paying these out of your own savings?
 
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Sorry to hear about all your problems Hip.

Hip said:
I read that even if you get PIP, it does not cover your UK State Pension contributions (though I understand your State Pension contributions are paid for you if you are receiving unemployment benefit).
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I'm no expert, but I think that National Insurance Contributions are paid if you are on Employment and Support Allowance, which is the benefit for those who are unable to work due to health problems. PIP is more designed to help provide support with additional costs relating to ill-health. Neither of them seem well designed to achieve what it is it seems they're meant to do, but I think that's the reasoning behind it.

Are you approaching pension age? I'd try to seek some financial advice (even just from specialist discussion forums on-line) before deciding to top up your contributions yourself. Who knows what is going to happen to the pension system over the next couple of decades anyway? Good luck.
 
Hip said:
So my question is, what are other UK ME/CFS patients here doing about their State Pension contributions? Are you paying these out of your own savings?
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Yes. I'm more or less in the same situation as you, albeit living with my wife and mother-in-law instead of parents. My wife and I decided that avoiding the stress of trying to claim benefits was likely to be worth more than going through it for the money, so I didn't try to claim. I plan to top-up for the seven years-worth that I'm behind in contributions in order to receive the full amount, and I intend doing that before 5th April, as, according to this article, afterwards it will cost more to do so, https://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/20...ion-now-to-avoid-contribution-cost-hike-april
 
I am in a similar position, and was advised several years ago that long term buying back the years of pension contributions was a good investment.

Andy said:
Yes. I'm more or less in the same situation as you, albeit living with my wife and mother-in-law instead of parents. My wife and I decided that avoiding the stress of trying to claim benefits was likely to be worth more than going through it for the money, so I didn't try to claim. I plan to top-up for the seven years-worth that I'm behind in contributions in order to receive the full amount, and I intend doing that before 5th April, as, according to this article, afterwards it will cost more to do so, https://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/20...ion-now-to-avoid-contribution-cost-hike-april
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Thank you for this information, this has been on my look into list for several years, so I guess it needs to go to the very top of the list.
 
Esther12 said:
I'm no expert, but I think that National Insurance Contributions are paid if you are on Employment and Support Allowance, which is the benefit for those who are unable to work due to health problems. PIP is more designed to help provide support with additional costs relating to ill-health.
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Yes, that's the case - I was on what was called Incapacity Benefit when I got ill, the name of which was later changed to ESA. I wasn't considered eligible for PIP, despite being housebound and for some time bedridden. But, full NI contributions did get credited from out of my Incapacity Benefit/ESA; having PIP is not necessary for that. When I recently reached retirement age, I was simply shunted across from ESA to a full State Pension because I had paid enough credits. (Big sigh of relief!)
 
Hi @Hip, I sympathise with your dilemma. And I agree with the others that it would be worth back-paying your pension contributions if you can manage it.

If you can cope with it, it might be worth applying for ESA and PIP. Now that we have discovered our local CAB has a benefits adviser who will fill in the forms for us, it has made a huge difference to the stress involved. Because we are both housebound she visited us at home to fill in our PIP forms. We read up on it in advance and made some notes, to help with concentration while she went through all the questions, but it was so much easier than all the times I've had to fill in the forms for us both.

And if you get ESA it covers your pension contributions.
 
Esther12 said:
I think that National Insurance Contributions are paid if you are on Employment and Support Allowance, which is the benefit for those who are unable to work due to health problems. PIP is more designed to help provide support with additional costs relating to ill-health.
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Ah right, well I did not even know that! I thought PIP was the main disability support provider. Shows how little I know! Thanks Esther.

So if I want to try to for disability support, Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) would normally be the first port of call?



Esther12 said:
Are you approaching pension age? I'd try to seek some financial advice (even just from specialist discussion forums on-line) before deciding to top up your contributions yourself.
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I'm mid-50s now, so it's only another 10 years to retirement age (currently 65 for males).

I am looking into getting some financial advice for pensions.

I found one good UK organization called The Pensions Advisory Service which provide free and independent pension advice. They are funded by the UK government, but are independent from government departments. I've written to them to for advice.


The UK State Pension seems like a good deal, because you get the full State Pension, currently £164 a week (= £8500 a year), if you accumulate 35 qualifying years of contributions, with yearly contributions costing around the £700 mark. So 35 x £700 is £24,500, that's what you put into the pension.

And if you live for more than 3 years after your retirement at 65, which many do these days, that means you're already in profit.



Andy said:
I plan to top-up for the seven years-worth that I'm behind in contributions in order to receive the full amount, and I intend doing that before 5th April, as, according to this article, afterwards it will cost more to do so, https://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/20...ion-now-to-avoid-contribution-cost-hike-april
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I am aiming to do that too. The letter I received from HM Revenue & Customs said the back payment rate they quoted me for the yearly pension contributions is only guaranteed until 5 April 2019, so I guess it may go up after that. Looks like it might go up by £150 each year by your link. So I want to pay before 5 April.



EzzieD said:
But, full NI contributions did get credited from out of my Incapacity Benefit/ESA; having PIP is not necessary for that.
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I wish I'd tried to get Incapacity Benefit/ESA earlier!



Trish said:
it might be worth applying for ESA and PIP. Now that we have discovered our local CAB has a benefits adviser who will fill in the forms for us, it has made a huge difference to the stress involved. Because we are both housebound she visited us at home to fill in our PIP forms.
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Very nice of your benefits adviser to visit you at home.

I think I will at least try to get ESA. I wonder how successful I will be, though, given that my disabilities are more on the mental and cognitive side rather than physical. For example, I don't have any difficulty walking for 40 minutes, that does not cause PEM. But just 2 or 3 hours of light socializing is enough to create mental exhaustion and increased brain fog the next day.
 
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Hip said:
So if I want to try to for disability support, Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) would normally be the first port of call?
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Probably, but as the criteria for them are different it's possible you'd happen to fit one more than the other just due to your particular symptom profile. It's worth looking at the criteria themselves and thinking about how you might fit different ones. It can be really confusing and difficult, but it's well worth putting the effort in early rather than waiting until things have gone wrong before looking more closely at the details. Good luck.
 
Worth checking here https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/types-of-esa

Contribution-based ESA
You can only apply for contribution-based ESA if you have an illness or disability that affects your ability to work, and you either:

  • get the severe disability premium
  • got the severe disability premium within the last month and you’re still eligible for it
You’ll also need to have been an employee or self-employed and paid National Insurance contributions, usually in the last 2 to 3 years. National Insurance credits can also count.
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I get an occupational pension Ill health retirement I also have what’s known as credits only ESA. I get too much from my pension to receive ESA payments but because it’s been agreed I would qualify for ESA i get a credit on my national insurance record as if I had paid contributions.

Here’s gov.uk info on NI credits https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits
 
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In case it is relevant to anyone here, worth noting that in the UK those claiming child benefits (sorry, cannot remember exact names) got NI coverage. So my wife was covered until our children left school. But things may have changed since then, so would have to make your own enquiries.
 
Can you register as self-employed going forward? It shouldn't affect ESA if you don't earn enough (check with CAB).

I pay voluntary class 2 NICs and the standard class 4 NICs based on my self-employed earnings.

The class 2 NICs are only £2.95 a week, which is much less than the ~£15 per week for class 3 NICs.
 
adambeyoncelowe said:
Can you register as self-employed going forward? It shouldn't affect ESA if you don't earn enough (check with CAB).

I pay voluntary class 2 NICs and the standard class 4 NICs based on my self-employed earnings.

The class 2 NICs are only £2.95 a week, which is much less than the ~£15 per week for class 3 NICs.
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If you get ESA you would get NI credits so no need to pay Class 2.
 
Hip said:
currently 65 for males
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"The full retirement age is to be increased gradually from 65 to 67 years by 2023";
you need to check to see when you will be eligible (providing you have the necessary NI contributions);

you can check it here:
https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-age

(to be honest I have almost come to the conclusion that they will keep raising the retirement age).

eta: the retirement age for women is the same as for men.
 
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My son is grappling with this atm.
He has not had energy to sort but new flat rules apply from April and it will cost more, even for back payments then I believe.

(He was awarded DLA (higher mobility and care) and IB from the age of 16- as new rules relating to this IB group came in in 2000. I was his appointee able to fight for him over the 15 or so years over transfer from IB to ESA and changes of circumstances over DLA.)

He therefore has 15 years of NI paid contributions, though never has worked nor registered as self employed.

Being a little more able to manage his affairs in 2014, but unable to work or socialise, I relinquished appointee-ship and he was left to run the gauntlet of the new shiny ESA and DLA reassessments in 2015 and deal with the unholy challenge of ESA- he was placed in the Work Related- time limited ESA and had to fulfill a visit with the Disability adviser who conceded his situation and agreed telephone follow up and contact-for 6 months.

After that, the process dragged him down so much he would not reapply so no longer has NI paid for him, - he lives with us, and like others here has no state support or benefits at all.


BUT, in 2015 I read that you can be assessed for NI if you qualify to APPLY for ESA EVEN if you don't process the ESA application- NI can be awarded.
I challenged the Job Centre DA at the time and info there was none forthcoming..........


So I am looking into that atm. I did ring and they wouldn't speak with me but would with my son who still has to find that energy..........
https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/eligibility

The following was published this February by WHICH
National Insurance and benefits
Find out the benefits you may receive as a result of making National Insurance contributions.
Tom Wilson

https://www.which.co.uk/money/tax/national-insurance/national-insurance-and-benefits-ac0lg0d8m4uw
 
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Suffolkres said:
I did ring and they wouldn't speak with me but would with my son who still has to find that energy..........
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I have that problem with my daughter. If she needs to communicate by phone with benefits agencies I do the call, explain that she isn't well enough, they ask me to pass the phone to her so she can confirm she wants me to speak on her behalf, then passes the phone back to me to deal with it.
 
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