Grim. One of my mother’s earliest symptoms 
@vero Grim. One of my mother’s earliest symptoms
My heartfelt commiserations for you, your family and not least for your desperately afflicted mother.
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What information were you requesting from WP that they would only send you 6 months before date of retirement?
In my case it was exactly what my pension would be - they won’t tell you too far ahead because they don’t know.
and so, according to the OP, if you have the audacity to ask, HMRC will fine you for your trouble 
Couldn’t make it up 
Sue,
The DWP information on projected was available well before 6 months from the date of retirement via the government web site.
The HMRC also provided the information on how many years were available to top up with Class 2 contributions well before 6 months before the date of retirement.
But the HMRC asks you to confirm that the DWP has to confirm that paying the extra Class 2 contributions and which years they need to be made for (pre or post 2016/2017 tax year) before the HMRC will allow you to pay the additional contributions. According to the people my wife spoke to at the DWP they only handle enquiries about that for people who are within 6 months of their stutory retirement date as they are overloaded with enquiries.
Apparently, again according to the people at HMRC my wife has spoken to the question of the unavoidable increased costs has been referred to “the solicitors” but in the meanwhile you have to pay the increased cost of the Class 2 contributions and then try and claim it back at the end of the tax year.
Grahame Pigney
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You can get a copy of your contribution record at any time and see what years are missing yourself. I did this to make sure my husband who had worked abroad had enough qualifying years for a full state pension.
Poppy,
You can indeed.
But HMRC requires that the DWP confirms that additional contributions will enhance your pension and what years you need to buy you additional contributions for. Currently it is this bit of the process that the DWP won’t deal with except for people with 6 months of their statutory retirement date.
Grahame Pigney
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How can this be the case Grahame? There are other people on here paying voluntary contributions who are not 6 months from retirement age? How are they doing it?
All the information about missing years and which years you can pay additional contributions for are available in the link I provided above. You don’t need the DWP to tell you that. If you haven’t paid the full 35 years contribution then you don’t get a full pension and if you have paid 35 years contributions then you will.
You can check how much state pension you are due to receive by following the links on the same part of the UK Government website I directed you to.
Are you sure you’re not over complicating this? Where does it say on the Government website that the DWP needs to provide information that HMRC already has before HMRC will allow you to pay additional contributions?
I’m happy to be proved that I’m poorly informed.
Izzy x
Irene,
You have missed the point.
This is about catching up on voluntary contributions after having been working in France for 15-20 years.
It is not the same thing as paying voluntary contributions year-by-year.
In any event it is what the HMRC/DWP have told my wife (confirming what other friends of ours have been told) when she wanted to know how she could top-up her pension contributions using her entitlement to Class 2 contributions based on her employment history in France.
Grahame Pigney
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Never heard f this before. My husband had worked abroad for over 20 years, I checked how many years he needed to catch up to the full number and paid them. I think there is a time limit that each year has to be paid by but never heard of the situation you describe. In fact Iread recently of someone who paid voluntary contributions only to later find they didn’t increase his pension so he went to court to get a refund. I feel there has been some misunderstanding somewhere.
I don’t think I have Grahame. It’s as simple as @Poppyfields has said.
You get a report of years paid and years missed and then you make up the shortfall (provided those years are still within the time limit). It’s all in the link I gave you.
Izzy x
Poppy,
We all learn something new every day.
There has certainly been a misunderstanding.
This is about catching up on voluntary contributions after not having paid any for a decade or two due to being permanently resident outside the UK.
The sort of court action you refer to is part of why the HMRC wants confirmation from the DWP that paying addition contributions (in this case Class 2) will actually increase the pension entitlement.
Just reporting what HMRC & DWP have told my wife. Sounds like your husband’s situation is very different.
Grahame Pigney
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Irene,
But that is not how it works in practice. Unless you think my wife and I are lying about what the HMRC & DWP have told us.
The facts are the facts, well the facts as told us by HMRC & DWP, DWP refused to provide details of what years my wife needed to pay Class 2 contributions for until she was less than 6 months away from her statutory retirement date, the majority of the years were prior to 2016-2017 the rest were later. She didn’t need to pay Class 2 contributions for all her “missing” years.
Are you talking about how to use Class 2 contributions to top up sufficient missing years to bring a UK State Pension up to the maximum amount?
Grahame Pigney
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I reckon you have done a thorough job of warning folk about the difficulties you/your family have faced… and which some might well face in the future…
Are you ready to close this Thread now ???
cheers
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Stella, please close this thread. As usual Grahame is refusing to believe the experiences of others. His case is always special.
I was trying to help by pointing him in the right direction but he now says I’m accusing him of lying so I give up. Despite what he says it can all be done on the HMRC website, I’ve done it myself having worked in France and missed several years of UK contributions.
Thanks
Izzy x
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Get it done… and save some virtual paper 
Stella,
Happy to close the thread if people don’t have any further questions or have doubts about the information I/we have provided.
Grahame Pigney
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PMSL
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Irene,
I am not refusing to believe the experiences of others, when have I said that other people are not telling the truth?
I am simply telling this forum what our experience has been when dealing with HMRC and DWP on our specific case.
The two things are very different as most people will understand.
Grahame Pigney
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