I’d better go back and tell Newcastle they were wrong then.
It is the best thing/ investment you can make bump up pension contributions It is guaranteed for life. I am 4 years on and my wife 13 years after pensioner age (She is not that ageded 60/65 in that time)
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I’m going to have to look this up later, as like @Peartree , if I look at my pension forecast, all years are counted towards my state pension, including all my contracted out years. I contracted out in 1988, and continued contracted out until it was discontinued. What really annoys me is that I have 3 years, in the 1980’s where I’m shown as having made 51 weeks of contributions, which of course is not a full year and so doesn’t count, but when I was in full time employment. Apparently no detailed records exists, so nothing can be done.
Another possibility derives from the fact that abroad the UK pension generally remains constant and is not updated for inflation every year, although exceptions have been made by agreement with some countries. The ordinary inflation updates applied while we were in the EU, but I do not know whether this remains the same after Brexit.
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@Peartree, if the Pensions Forecast online says I qualify for the £185 new basic pension per week (having met the 35 years threshold) , should I take this figure with a (large) pinch of salt if contracted out for many years? Is there a crude/rough % per annum contracted out, I should discount this figure , purely for estimation purposes?
You can ask for an actual written forecast with the years you have qualified for and the amount those will bring, this is what I did as I had no idea how many years I actually had rights to. You then have this as an official record of proof of what they informed you too.
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They remain the same after Brexit.
Thank you @Peartree and @Shiba - very helpful.
I went back, prompted by your responses, and looked again at my online Pension Forecast and noticed a link to Contracted Out Pension Equivalent (COPE) that was personalised to me. It said that the COPE amount - which shouldn’t affect the forecast was… £55 a week. Interesting figure.
Brexit had no effect. See this UK Govt resource:
These are the countries where the UK pay an annual increase
OK, I’ve looked this up now. It looks quite complicated, but basically if you reach retirement age after April 2016, the number of years contributions up to April 2016 are used to calculate how much you would have got under the old scheme which comprised of two parts, the basic pension and the additional pension (SERPS or SSP). This is calculated based upon 30 years contributions before April 2016 for a ‘full’ pension (I had 35). As I was contracted out from 1988 to 2012 (the whole period !) then I basically did not get the additional pension amount, which the forecast said for me would have been an extra £64.13 per week. Whole years after April 2016 can be used to top up this calculated amount based upon the new rules. For me, I could get the full pension it is possible for me to get with another 2 years contributions, giving me a total of 40 years. Looking at what extra I would get against how much I would need to pay for the extra years shows a payback period of just less than 4 years, which is worth it.
In the EU the upratings were agreed to continue.
I got my state pension in 2019, 6 years after i originally expected ( a1953 WASPI). I had 44 qualifying years !
I was contracted out for maybe 5 years ( it could be a couple more) and so the £185 is reduced by about £40.
That’s a bugger. The big problem I think is that having more than 30 years pre 2016 doesn’t give you a bigger pension, and can’t be used post 2016 to boost your pension. It seems to only be post 2016 contributions that can be used to do this. At least that’s my reading of it. I was contracted out for a much longer time, and had less pre 2016 contributions, but the three years of post 2016 contributions, plus another two years of top up will get me to the full £185 per week. It doesn’t seem very fair that you will get less with more total years of contributions.
whoever said that the UK treats pensioners fairly…
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They offered me 8 pence, yes 8 pence per week for my late husband’s 25years of contributions, the last ten being self employed but he still paid his dues. Told them to put it where the monkey hides his nuts!
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I didn’t think “widow’s” pensions were a thing any more, and the current benefits (if you fit the narrow eligibility criteria) are much more than 8p/week (which is, I agree, pointless).
Was this some time ago?
No, last year when I asked about my own pension rights to be sent on paper to me. I get my pension de reversion in France which is widow/widower pension rights and is from his contributions made over here. I am not eligible for UK benefits, been away for so long now.
Ok, that explains it. Bit of a pointless amount, as you said. I’d possibly have made them pay it as to do so would have been more spent in admin than the pension itself - a victory of some sort I suppose.
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I’ve done that with BP. I was offered £12 something for a tiny pension. I decided it wasn’t a generous enough offer so they’ve been paying me an annual pension of £1.73 (or thereabouts) for the last 10 years and (of course) having to send me annual statements and other admin papers. They should have thought that one through. 
Not least, they made me redundant back in the late 60s and used my pension money to give me a redundancy lump sum. I didn’t appreciate at the time what were the implications (if they even told me). So I have no qualms now about making them pay out each year.
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