Attention Mums, Am I the only person who didn't know this?

@pete I really don't know . I don't know what the rules are now and didn't know them when I retired. It's just that whenever I thought something seemed wring I made enquiries about it. Most of the time I was able to find some way around what appeared to be the fixed rules and sometimes I couldn't. My advantage was that I was used to dealing with bureaucracy (from always having to fight them when running my business) and was able to find the right departments and people to speak to, but I retired in 2001 and rules have changed a lot since then.

I've just been doing some research on the web (they didn't have this internet thingy when I was looking at retiring) and it seems as though you have to keep paying until State Retirement Age . If you intend to continue work after that date (even if it's part time) you should make sure that your employer notifies the Revenue that you have reached that age otherwise they may continue to deduct NI contributions.

When you said that you were told that you need to make another five years contributions that may have been because you still had five years to go to State Retirement Age. What I think the info was showing was that once you had made a sufficient number of years contributions (which you seem to have done) you still contribute whilst you are working, up to retirement. I don't think that if you retired now you would need to make additional payments but you would just have to wait until you reached pension age and then would get the full pension.

Rules are changing about how much you will be entitled to and I haven't looked into it. There, apparently, will be a higher flat rate pension from some date in the future (something like eight grand a year) but if you retire before that date you won't be entitled to that amount. You'd only be entitled to the current rate. This could be less than that amount if you hadn't paid SERPS (State Earnings Related Pension). SERPS ran from 1978 - 2002 and was an extra contribution made, and depended on how much you earned. This worked a bit like a private pension but was with the government and would give you an extra bit of pension depending on how much you had paid in. You were able to opt out of SERPS so it would depend on whether you did so or not. This morphed into the government Second Pension. It's getting complicated I get more than the basic pension because I paid some SERPS.

You can get a state pension forecast (how much they reckon you will get) here:

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

 

Not good if you're diabetic!

 

I agree, because you don't want them to be an artificial Sugar Daddy.

 

I'm not sure that I understand that . Opting out of SERPS just meant that you were paying the normal NIC. So for the period you opted out you would have just been earning your normal state pension. When you opted back in to SERPS you would then have got a small, unspecified, addition to your pension entitlement (mine ended up with about an extra £1,000 per year on my pension for the few years that I was opted in). Of course, they managed to cheat on that after a while! They've now increased the state pension for people that retire now, but not for people of my age So my 'second state pension' is gradually being whittled down.

 

That's what governments are there for

 

Good morning please lets keep this thread on an even keel my friends as we all know how the written word can sometimes be misinterpreted and indeed often misunderstood,thank you,enjoy your day

 

I completely disagree with that statement at all levels, I don't want to get personal here so won't tell you what Mrs JWK and all the other Mums I know would say.