Early Retirement

[baldyhiggins]

I was thinking of retiring on my 65th. birthday. Do I still have to pay National Insurance privately till I'm 66 and if so how do I go about paying it? Thanks in advance

[roslyn251254]

If you've worked all your life you should have paid the "required years" N I ...so probably not...think it's 35 years

[baldyhiggins]

I've worked for approx. 47 years. thank you.

[Zacs-Master]

You need to set yourself up with a Govt gateway ‘account’:
https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

[baldyhiggins]

Thank you. I'll check out Gateway and see what it entails.

[fiction-factory]

>I've worked for approx. 47 years. thank you.
On the face of it that sounds like enough but, as some on here have no doubt found out, if you were paying into a company pension scheme that was 'contracted out' your contribution years may be less than you thought

[baldyhiggins]

I did contract out not sure for how many years though. My Insurance company at the time advised me to when I took out a private pension with them. My husband gets money deducted from his pension now because he contracted out! I think in hindsight it wasn't such a great idea doing that. Thank you for all your help. I will check out the Gov. Gateway website. Thanks again everyone.

[MartinMillar]

I just did it and despite opting out for a few years it’s still showing 31 years full contribution

[fiction-factory]

Good luck with the Gateway site. It's been a godsend for me with keeping track of tax, earnings and NI/pension forecasts

[Zacs-Master]

Yes, it’s very good.

[New Judge]

//I did contract out not sure for how many years though.//

When you "contracted out" you only opt out of contributions to the "Additional State Pension". This has changed its name over the years (so that people have more difficulty tracking their entitlement) but it was also known as the State Second Pension and SERPS (State Earnings Related Pension Scheme). Since 2016 when the new State Pension was introduced you cannot contract out any longer (because there is no State Second Pension scheme any more).

Since you were born after 6th April 1953 you will be eligible for the new State Pension. You need at least ten "qualifying years" of NI contributions to get a pension and you must have 35 qualifying years to receive the maximum. However, if you were contracted out for any of that time you will receive less than the maximum.

[Zacs-Master]

And the Gateway account will tell you all that, how much you’ve underpaid (if you have) and whether you still have time to top your contributions up.

[baldyhiggins]

Thank you all very much. I will check Gov Gateway.