No record of NI contributions after working in construction for years

I worked in UK from 1986-1990 having applied for and getting my NI number as soon as I arrived. I worked for a number of different employers and mainly in construction. While in construction I was paid a daily / weekly rate and my employers always deducted tax etc at source. When I recently applied to pay gap year NI contribution for 2006 onwards I was told there was no record of me having paid any for 1986-1990. My initial query said I had 3 years paid and invited me to top it up but when I submitted CF83 was told these did not exist. However I was credited with some contributions in the early 90s after I left the country which I had not paid. I'm not sure how to proceed with this so hoping you can help. Is it a case that you only pay the correct class of NI if you are a full time employee? Can someone have worked in construction for many subcontractors and NI is not deducted thereby slipping through the net and not gaining pension entitlements?

Hi,

When you are employed by a payroll, if you earn a certain amount you or your employer can be subject to National Insurance payments. If you are not being paid enough to cover National Insurance payments over the course of a tax year, the year may not be a fully qualifying towards your state pension.
If you contact our National Insurance team, they can look at the tax years and confirm if there are any employment records held on your record under the employers.

National Insurance: general enquiries

You can also write to Individuals Caseworker regarding the tax years in question and provide any details and evidence of employment so they can make investigations and advise you:

Individuals Caseworker,
PT Operations North East England,
HM Revenue and Customs,
BX9 1AN

Thank you.

Hi, I contacted the NI team, as you suggest above, and furnished all information but was told there was no record of me having paid anything for 1986-1990...the years I worked in UK. I definitely worked those years...I can remember them well! Can you help with how I proceed from here? I paid my contributions but the record doesn't reflect this. Something is amiss. I am afraid that I will miss the deadline to pay some extra contributions to enhance my pension. Everyone I reach out to says to contact someone else. It is very frustrating and despairing. Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi,

You will need to send in as much information as you have about which years you feel you paid and are not shown on your records. This should include details of where you worked, copies of payslips, P60's and so on.

Thank you
 

Hi I'm not a HMRC Admin but are you sure you weren't self employed and it was CIS being deducted? That would certainly explain why there is no NIC record at least.

Hi Bella Boo thanks for the reply. I was indeed 'self employed' in construction for a lot of that time as you have suggested. All tax was withheld at source. I assumed NI also was at the time but you have got me thinking now. If CIS was being deducted does that count towards a pension I wonder?

I looked into this with old workmates and just got reminded that I was an employee for a short time 1986-1987 but was 'self employed' in construction for the following 3 years. Tax was deducted at source and after each job ended I got an SC60 form which I used for tax returns at end of each year. I got tax rebates at the time. I'm not sure about how NI was treated back at that time for contractors. Any idea would deductions have typically been made for those of us who worked as self employed in this way and is there any pension entitlement?

Hi, CIS deducts money towards your self assessment liabilities. Back then class 2 NIC were not collected via SA (they've only been part of SA since 2015) and had to be paid separately, directly to national insurance office. This is why I thought it could explain things. As back then you wouldn't have paid claas 2 NIC via SA (so any CIS suffered couldn't be for payment of class 2). If you try searching for class 2 NIC changes 2015 you should hopefully get more relevant results.

Hi  jpmurray

For assistance you will need to contact the National Insurance department National Insurance: general enquiries

Thank you