How to pay Voluntary contributions to fill gaps

As of 12 June 2023, absolutely impossible either to get through on any number, either to get the 18-digit code, or to talk to 'Future Pensions'. In all cases line hangs up, goes dead, etc. So I am giving up and sending large payments via cheques for gaps in the NI contributions, according to my own calculations, without having been able to speak to anyone as they insist. It's that or presumably lose my pension after 31 July. What an appalling dilemma you have put people in, *for the second time* in six months !! Is there no accountability.

Hi,

We are sorry that you have been unable to get through to the National Insurance Helpline due to the large volume of telephone calls that have been generated due to the extension to the 31 July 2023 for payment of voluntary NI contributions to enhance your State Pension.

You will be pleased to know that the time limit has now been extended to 5 April 2025 for payment of voluntary NI contributions.

If you have sent in cheques, please ensure that you have noted the back of the cheque with your National Insurance number and enclose a covering letter to explain what the payment is for.

Thank you.
 

Hi, i contacted the future pension centre to determine the amount I owed, after an hours wait the information was provided & I have 2 queries arising from this which I would be grateful to receive answers to please.Firstly I checked online & for 2015-2016 the online account clearly stated I owed less than £50, the future pension unit advised an amount 16 timers higher was owed.I asked why the large discrepancy & was told the online figures are inputted by HMRC & cant be relied on.Is this correct as HMRC NI say their figure is correct!Which figure I=s correct?? Secondly I had a year 2009-2010 where then figure was not available online & the future pension centre advised they had no information so could not advise me & I had to phone HMRC NI centre(03002003500)Phoned & was advised ONLY the future pension centre can provide figures. I spent in excess of 2 hours phoning the 2 units & feel Im still no further forward.Please can anyone help with accurate advice., fed up with the internal politics between future pensions & HMRC Thanks in advance HHY

My wife is missing one year on her contributions to get her full pension se we are looking to make a voluntary contribution to make it up. The problem is that on her record she has two years which say, "We are checking this year to see if it counts towards your pension. We’ll update your record when this is finished, you do not need to do anything." How long does it take to do this as we are talking about years 2012-13 and 2009-10?

I managed to contacted the future pension line in April and was given the 18 digit number. To top up my pension , now that the date has been extended, I tried several times to get through but kept getting disconnected after staying on the phone for 30+ minutes each time. As mine is a rather large sum to pay, I was wondering if I could find forms to fill up and pay it monthly by direct debit till I reach my pensionable age which will be in 18 months? Please advice? Thanks Jane

Hi Tony Magson,  

Unfortunately I don’t have a timescale for when this will be updated.
However, you can contact our Helpline and we will be able to look into those years and provide you with the amount required if your wife wants to pay Voluntary National Insurance contributions for those years.
The contact number is 0300 200 3500, lines are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm.
Alternatively, you can use our webchat facility - National Insurance: general enquiries, choose the option ‘Ask HMRC online’ This facility is available Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm.

Thank you.

 

Hi Jane Jacob,

Unfortunately, the option to pay via Direct Debit for past tax years isn’t an available payment option.
We don’t offer any payments by instalments.
However, if you owe more than one year you can break it down and pay one year in full at a time. 

Thank you.

Hello .... I submitted a CF83 form in May 23 and have checked on my Gateway account that shows"completed" - i have requested that messages are sent to me on the Gateway account (and E mail) - but i have received nothing .... is there a number i can phone to confirm that i can now pay my Class 2 shortfall payments, what years i need to pay and how i go about paying them ....ps: is there a way i could check these on line (my gateway account shown Class 1 payments, not Class 2) - then agree the years, then pay on line ? Look forward to hearinf from you ...

Hi john woodall,
We do not send a reply via e-mail for CF83 applications.
When we reply by post it will detail the tax years and their amounts that we invite you to pay voluntarily.
This information will not be applied to your Personal Tax Account.
The overseas process to pay voluntarily is separate from the UK process.
You can check our current timescales for CF83 applications or call the National Insurance helpline for more advice.
Number - 0300 200 3500
Overseas - +44 19 1203 7010
Open - Monday to Friday: 8am to 6pm Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Webchat through a Personal Tax Account.
Thank you, 
 

Hi, Please can someone explain the definition and the role played by the "date of contact". I live in Australia and I need to complete and post a form CF83 to determine my possible voluntary contributions. I understand that there is currently an 11 month delay between HMRC receiving the form and processing it. The closing date for contributions for most of NI gap years is April 2025.What seems to be a comfortable period, from December 2023 to April 2025, for me to sort out the voluntary contributions becomes much less comfortable if the first step will take 11 months. Earlier, HMRC Admin 19, in replying to Caro1961 O’Brien, said, "We will accept the date your CF83 is received by HMRC as your date of contact." HMRC Admin 19's comment raises the hope that if I post my CF83 and it is received by HMRC on 22 January 2024 (say), then I will have extra time beyond April 2025 to complete the payment of the voluntary contributions. Perhaps the clock is stopped on 22 January 2024 when the CF83 is received by HMRC and restarted on 22 December 2024 (say) when the reply is posted to me by HMRC, so giving me an additional 11 months to complete the payment, ie by March 2026 rather than April 2025. A definition and explanation of the "date of contact" would be appreciated. Thanks for your help, Paul

Hi, I am past my Pension Age (68 vs 66) and have not yet applied for the State Pension. My NI record shows that I have made 18 complete years of NI contributions and there are about 15 years of NI contribution gaps that seem to be available to fill. I live in Australia. I am completing a CF83 form (Application to pay NI Contributions abroad) and will post it tomorrow. Do I need to wait until I have heard back from HMRC about my CF83 application, and then paid for any shortfall/ gap NI Contributions before I apply for the State Pension (Option A)? With this approach I would receive nothing until the additional 15 years of Contributions had been paid and then start to receive the Pension value of the 33 years of contributions (plus some small additional amount for the deferral period), say in 16 months from now, given that the CF83 response time is 11 months. Or can I apply for the State Pension now and start receiving the State Pension based on my 18 years of contributions, while in parallel following the CF83 process (for the additional 15 years) (Option B)? With this approach I might start to receive the Pension value of the existing 18 years of Contributions (plus some small additional amount for the shorter deferral period) in, say, six months from now, and the Pension value of the original 18 years of contributions (plus that smaller deferral amount) plus the Pension value of the additional 15 years, once the additional 15 years of Contributions had been paid, as above in 16 months from now. Thus, Option B provides some payments 10 months before Option A and so seems like a good idea. The deferral amount would be slightly higher with Option A thus to some extent offsetting the benefit of the earlier payment, however, inflation can significantly degrade the value of the deferral payment. I don't want to risk being unable to apply for the additional 15 years of Contributions through the CF83 process if there is a rule that says that one cannot pay Voluntary Contributions once Pension payments have commenced. I haven't found any such rule but I'd like to be certain. Thanks again, Paul

Hi Paul from Aus,
I can confirm that you will not be penalised in any way because of the length of time it will take for our International Teams to reply to your CF83 application form.  
Voluntary National Insurance contributions for the 2006-2007 to 2022-2023 tax  years should be received by 5 April 2025.  
I would recommend that you forward your CF83 application form to us at your earliest convenience so that it will be in our system.
If your CF83 application form is received close to 5 April 2025, you will be given an extended time of 8 weeks to forward any payment of voluntary National Insurance contributions that you wish to make.
Thank you.

 

Hi Paul from Aus

Please have a look at Voluntary National Insurance and National Insurance: detailed information
Please contact the NIC help line at 0300 200 3500 and from overseas at +44 19 1225 4811.  
They cannot advises whether you should pay the shorfall, but should be able to give you the information you require to reach a decision.

Thank you

Hi, I asked this question before but made it too complicated. Please can you help with the answer to this simplified version. I am past my Pension Age (68 vs 66) and have not yet applied for the State Pension. My NI record shows that I have made 18 complete years of NI contributions and there are about 15 years of NI contribution gaps that seem to be available to fill. I live in Australia. The CF83 form (Application to pay NI Contributions abroad) that I completed and submitted was received by HMRC in the UK in early January 2024, and should be processed in December 2024, according to my understanding of the CF83 processing backlog. Can I apply for the State Pension now, and start receiving the State Pension now based on my 18 years of contributions, then pay the additional 15 years of contribution gaps once I receive the ok from the CF83 process? Thanks for your help. Paul

Hi. I have been trying for over a year now to make a payment to cover the shortfall in my contributions. but after numerous 60 minutes on hold I get cut off. This situation has been going on for a year. How on earth am I meant to do this. Like so many others I no longer have a cheque book to send a check. Why is there not a simple way to pay online? John

Hi John Chapman,
Sorry but you need to call the NI Helpline on 0300 200 3500 to obtain an 18-digit reference in order to pay voluntary Class 3 NICs. 
Thank you. 




 

Hi Paul from Aus,
If you are ready to claim your UK State Pension then you may do so and receive a pension based on your current National Insurance position.  
Details of how to contact The Pension Service may be found at Contact the Pension Service
As you are over UK State Pension Age, your CF83 application form should have been forwarded on to The Pension Service for them to reply to you.  
You may wish to contact them about paying any shortfalls of voluntary National Insurance contributions.
Thank you.

 

Hello, , HMRC Admin 20 Thanks for your answer to my question of 5 Feb 2024. Sorry but but I am still not completely clear. I will reword the question slightly to try to make my concern more apparent. Let us assume this scenario: On 1 January 2024 I am eligible to pay shortfalls of voluntary National Insurance contributions and I can pay those shortfalls at any time before 5 April 2025. Up to 15 April 2024 I have not yet paid any of the shortfalls of voluntary National Insurance contributions that I am eligible to pay. On 15 April 2024 I start receiving a pension based on my NI Contributions to that date. At any date after 15 April 2024, does the fact that I have now started receiving a pension prevent me from paying shortfalls of voluntary National Insurance contributions that I was previously eligible to pay. Thanks again, Paul

Good day, Please could someone help me. I'm in a position where my employer has not automatically enrolled me into a pension even though i meet the criteria and has now said they would start with the pension contributions form the 1 March 2024. If we were to backpay the last year missed, am I also obliged to backpay my amount or can the employer backpay and I continue as normal from the 2 March? Many thanks x

Hi Michel Raymond,
Your employer, in conjunction with the pension provider, will advice you on how they will address this situation.  You can contact the pensions regulator if you have concerns about the way your employer is dealing with automatic enrolment (https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/contact-us).  You can also contact money helper (https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/contact-us) who may be able to help you.
Thank you.