PAYING EXTRA NICS IS
BEST INVESTMENT
Turn £626 into £169 a year
for life. Or turn £351 now into £100 a year for life. That’s the deal for
particular groups of people who have not paid enough National Insurance
contributions to get a full state pension.
1.
Women born between 6 April 1938 and 23 October 1944
Men born
between 6 April 1933 and 23 October 1939
If your state pension has
been reduced because you have too few National Insurance contributions and you
have a gap in any of the six years 1996/97 to 2001/02 then you have barely a
month to buy back these contributions at a special low price of between £310 and
£351 for each year you buy now. If your pension is reduced then each extra year
you buy will boost your pension by £1.90 or £2.85 a week so the payback period
is very short. Your pension cannot be boosted above £95.25 a week (which rises
to £97.65 a week from April 12)
This offer expires at midnight on 5 April 2010. So act now if it applies
to you.
2.
Women born between 6 April 1948 and 5 October 1952
Men born
between 6 April 1943 and 6 April 1950
If your pension is reduced
because you have not paid enough contributions you can buy extra contributions
for any six years from 1975/76 to 2002/03. Married women cannot buy years when
they paid the reduced married woman’s rate of contributions or the two following
years. You must already have at least 20 years contributions (which can include
years of Home Responsibilities Protection). Buying contributions will cost
£626.60 for each year. If you reach pension age from 6 April 2010 each year you
buy will boost your pension by £3.25 a week up to the maximum of £97.65. If you
reach pension age before that then it will boost it by £1.90 or £2.85 a week.
This offer expires six years after you reach pension age.
3.
Everyone
If you have too few National
Insurance contributions to get a full state pension you can buy contributions
for the years 2009/10 back to 2003/04 (or 2004/05 if you wait until after 5
April). The married woman’s restriction is the same. The costs and benefits will
be the same as section 2.
More information…
…about all three ways to top up your National Insurance
contributions at www.direct.gov.uk – put
‘top up National Insurance’ in the search box.
If you have not yet retired
you can find out what your pension will be by getting a state pension forecast.
Go to www.direct.gov.uk and put ‘state
pension forecast’ in the search box.
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