State Pension Startup

[genou]

I have finally qualified for my bus pass. My state pension is incorrect, in that it does not take account of C3 NIC paid in respect of FY23. On the HMRC site my FY23 NIC is showing as Your record for this year is not available yet.

Given the time involved in getting through on the phone, is there any point in pursuing this at the moment? Or, to put the question another way, how long is it likely to take DWP/HMRC to sort this out if left alone.

The amount involved is trivial, but still.....

[chas49]

I would just wait. I was in a similar situation - paying the last year for which I could make voluntary contribs a few months before reaching SP age - and several months before the tax return was due. I got the arrears about 4 months after reaching SP age.

[mc2fool]

I have finally qualified for my bus pass. My state pension is incorrect, in that it does not take account of C3 NIC paid in respect of FY23.

Your actual state pension or your state pension forecast?

If the former, the last qualifying year to count towards your state pension is the tax year before the one in which you reach state pension age. I.e. if you reached state pension age during this tax year (on or after 6-Apr-2023) then any NICs paid during this tax year don't count.

If the latter, you'll have to wait until, typically, June or July the following tax year until the online forecast will include NICs for the previous year.

[genou]

I have finally qualified for my bus pass. My state pension is incorrect, in that it does not take account of C3 NIC paid in respect of FY23.

Your actual state pension or your state pension forecast?

If the former, the last qualifying year to count towards your state pension is the tax year before the one in which you reach state pension age. I.e. if you reached state pension age during this tax year (on or after 6-Apr-2023) then any NICs paid during this tax year don't count.

If the latter, you'll have to wait until, typically, June or July the following tax year until the online forecast will include NICs for the previous year.

It's the actual pension that's wrong. The C3 payment was for FY23, i.e. the year ending 5/4/23 ( although made in this tax year ), and my pension became payable this tax year. I had a correct forecast which included the FY23 payment, but that has of course disappeared now that the pension is in payment. So, given I paid for FY23 in May of this year, when would you expect them to credit it?

[staffordian]

Your actual state pension or your state pension forecast?

If the former, the last qualifying year to count towards your state pension is the tax year before the one in which you reach state pension age. I.e. if you reached state pension age during this tax year (on or after 6-Apr-2023) then any NICs paid during this tax year don't count.

If the latter, you'll have to wait until, typically, June or July the following tax year until the online forecast will include NICs for the previous year.

It's the actual pension that's wrong. The C3 payment was for FY23, i.e. the year ending 5/4/23 ( although made in this tax year ), and my pension became payable this tax year. I had a correct forecast which included the FY23 payment, but that has of course disappeared now that the pension is in payment. So, given I paid for FY23 in May of this year, when would you expect them to credit it?

I had what sounds like a similar issue.

It might help to follow the prompts I did (select change of circumstances) to get through to someone who can help...

viewtopic.php?p=441799&sid=8e0240423c20df205c5fb0d79d20dafb#p441799

[mc2fool]

Your actual state pension or your state pension forecast?

If the former, the last qualifying year to count towards your state pension is the tax year before the one in which you reach state pension age. I.e. if you reached state pension age during this tax year (on or after 6-Apr-2023) then any NICs paid during this tax year don't count.

If the latter, you'll have to wait until, typically, June or July the following tax year until the online forecast will include NICs for the previous year.

It's the actual pension that's wrong. The C3 payment was for FY23, i.e. the year ending 5/4/23 ( although made in this tax year ), and my pension became payable this tax year. I had a correct forecast which included the FY23 payment, but that has of course disappeared now that the pension is in payment. So, given I paid for FY23 in May of this year, when would you expect them to credit it?

Ok (people normally refer to 2022/23 to avoid confusion as to whether the year is start of or end of )

Well I would have expected them to get it right from the start, as DWP (who pays the state pension) should do a deep(er) search than the forecast (which is based on HMRC's records, which is who handles and keeps the records of NICs). Which makes it strange that the forecast included your 2022/23 NIC but the HMRC site doesn't (yet)....

I wouldn't leave it to hoping that DWP discover it themselves and sort it out unprompted. Hopefully staffordian's advice will still be helpful, and, of course, if you don't want to faff on the phone you could always write to them....

[genou]

Ok (people normally refer to 2022/23 to avoid confusion as to whether the year is start of or end of

No need for confusion, the convention is that an FY is named after the calendar year in which it ends.

Well I would have expected them to get it right from the start, as DWP (who pays the state pension) should do a deep(er) search than the forecast (which is based on HMRC's records, which is who handles and keeps the records of NICs). Which makes it strange that the forecast included your 2022/23 NIC but the HMRC site doesn't (yet)....

I wouldn't leave it to hoping that DWP discover it themselves and sort it out unprompted. Hopefully staffordian's advice will still be helpful, and, of course, if you don't want to faff on the phone you could always write to them....

The story I was told is that there are substantial delays in processing voluntary payments, and they won't attempt to fix records in response to phone calls - you just have to wait your turn.

HMRC's data transfer creates a task on the DWP side, and it requires human intervention on their part, bizarre as it sounds. I think I remember not being credited with a C3 payment before, and until I nudged DWP, the HMRC record showed no NIC, but I don't recall seeing "record not available" .

In theory they are processing in date order. So I'll just sit on my hands. Oh, and they seem to have changed the options that you can choose between, there wasn't really anywhere to go other than "change of circumstance", since all the other options were pretty specific ( e.g. bereavement ).

[mc2fool]

Ok (people normally refer to 2022/23 to avoid confusion as to whether the year is start of or end of

No need for confusion, the convention is that an FY is named after the calendar year in which it ends.

Not for UK tax years. They are always referred to as 2022-2023, 2022-23, 2022/23, 2022/3 or similar, and it's really best to stick to that convention.

Well I would have expected them to get it right from the start, as DWP (who pays the state pension) should do a deep(er) search than the forecast (which is based on HMRC's records, which is who handles and keeps the records of NICs). Which makes it strange that the forecast included your 2022/23 NIC but the HMRC site doesn't (yet)....

I wouldn't leave it to hoping that DWP discover it themselves and sort it out unprompted. Hopefully staffordian's advice will still be helpful, and, of course, if you don't want to faff on the phone you could always write to them....

The story I was told is that there are substantial delays in processing voluntary payments, and they won't attempt to fix records in response to phone calls - you just have to wait your turn.

HMRC's data transfer creates a task on the DWP side, and it requires human intervention on their part, bizarre as it sounds. I think I remember not being credited with a C3 payment before, and until I nudged DWP, the HMRC record showed no NIC, but I don't recall seeing "record not available" .

In theory they are processing in date order. So I'll just sit on my hands. Oh, and they seem to have changed the options that you can choose between, there wasn't really anywhere to go other than "change of circumstance", since all the other options were pretty specific ( e.g. bereavement ).

Well then I'm not sure why you asked "Given the time involved in getting through on the phone, is there any point in pursuing this at the moment?" as it sounds like you've already answered your own question.

But as I say, it's HMRC that deals with NICs, DWP only look at your NIC record when required, and clearly if your forecast included it then HMRC have already processed your payment and DWP should have picked that up in initiating your pension. Good luck!