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I lived and worked in the UK for several years, but now live and work elsewhere in the EEA, where I will remain indefinitely. (I have no plans to return to the UK to work or retire, but anything's possible.) While living in the UK, I made National Insurance contributions. According to my State Pension forecast and National Insurance record, I am not eligible for a UK State Pension because I have only 9 years' full NI contributions, whereas 10 are required. However, those statements go on to say that (1) I can make up the shortfall by paying £689 in NI contributions for one of the "incomplete" years, or that (2) I can use time spent abroad in the EEA to make up the gap.

Given that all the years my NI statement lists as "incomplete" are ones that I had spent working in Germany and paying into its state pension scheme, is there any benefit to me to paying the £689 to make up my NI shortfall?

Psychonaut
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Off-hand, I'd consider that the UK may leave both the EU and EEA and it's difficult to know how the time-pressured negotiations before that might go regarding the transferability of qualifying periods for state pensions between countries.

And as you can receive your UK state pension while living abroad and not get your National Insurance back, it might just be worth paying the last £689 so that you are sure you will get some pension for your 9-10 years of NI contributions, regardless of any fallout between the UK government and the EU.

nsandersen
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There is a good summary of the New State Pension here: https://pensionslatest.blog.gov.uk/2015/10/13/pensions-revolutions/

Another thing worth checking is whether you are eligible to pay Class 2 NICs, as these are only a third of the cost of Class 3 NICs. It is definitely worth paying the Class 2s if you can, as they will be abolished in April 2019. You can usually make voluntary payments for up to the last 6 years.

You qualify for Class 2 NICs if you were employed in the UK up to the point where you left, and continued to work after leaving the UK.

Michael D.
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