Voluntary National Insurance contributions to complete State Pension

On 13th November, I paid £2420.60 for three years of National Insurance contributions for the years 2021 - 2022; 2020-2021 and 2019-2020. I spoke to the lady at the International Pension Centre in Belfast and she assured me emphatically that if I paid the amount covering there three years, I would, in time, receive the full state pension as it currently stands. Taking her word for it, I went ahead with the payment. Since then, apart from a confirmation from HMRC, showing the last four digits of the reference number on receiving the funds, I have not yet heard or received any information on the current status of my pension update. I was told hat it would be credited to the account in 8 weeks, making it early January. Please could you tell me what is happening and when I may receive the pension increase promised by the lady. Thank you.

To add to this thread, I am 66, turning 67 in May. I started receiving the pension last year , around June/ July 2023.

Very similar to me. I paid two full years and one part year to make up my contributions to 35 years, my NI record has now been updated to show 35 years but my pension has not increased

I submitted a CF83 and it was received by PT Operations in May 2023. I received a letter yesterday telling me that I should contact the International Pensions Centre as I was within 6 months of retirement. I phoned the International Pensions Centre and was told I had to contact PT Operations again to obtain a copy of their documentation (an assessment of which years I could pay for and how much it would cost) as it had not been forwarded to the International Pension Centre or I could wait a further four weeks to receive the information by post - Apparently, it can over a monthe for PT Operations to transfer documentation to the International Pension Centre! I phoned PT Operations this morning and after repeated questioning discovered that PT Operations opened my CF83 application on 29/2/24, noted I was within 6 months of retirement and did not do any futher work on my application apart from sending me the letter described above. I phoned the International Pension Centre again and was told I had been transferred to the wrong extension and I should phone in again!! I phoned again, outlined my circumstances for the fourth time in 24 hours and lo and behold, the very nice man pressed a button to start the process of establishing which years I can pay for and how much it will cost. This will take approximately 16 weeks, bringing me within 6 weeks of my retirment date. Obviously if I pass my retirement date before I receive the document and pay the bill, my state pension amount will not include the uplift due to payment of the added years. Finally, I checked the number I called on the last 2 occasions and it was the same!!! The lesson for all forum users here is if you live abroad and are within 6 months of retirement, all the person answering the call at the International Pension Centre has to do is press a button!! There are so many lessons for training of HMRC staff that I would be here until after my 29 year old daughter's retirment age to document them!!!

I wholeheartedly agree with you, I have sent my completed form CF83 in June 2023 and they have acknowledged receiving it on 26 June 2023. I have checked the pension department's website on a monthly basis since then and all the info I am getting is "that it is in progress" . The matter keeps getting shifted along from initially it was going to be dealt with in February 2024, then pushed to March 2024, now it's June 2024. I have tried ringing them, different days, different times but kept waiting the the line until you eventually give up. It really beggars belief!

Dear Goandeas, Can you outline how one can access the pension department website to view the process of your application? This would help other applicants as the HMRC website does not advise how to do this. Many thanks, Maeve

Hi Steven Ball,

Please contact our National Insurance team and they will check to see if your payment of voluntary contributions has been allocated to your National Insurance account. If it has not then they will allocate it straight away which will then update The Pension Service systems to arrange for a recalculation of your State Pension.

National Insurance: general enquiries

Thank you.

Hi Maeve Just login to HMRC online services and it will give you the option to sign in or set up and account. I did this a few years ago. It requires a bit of patience as there are a few steps but it is doable