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Morning all
My wife handed in her notice this weekend after months of deliberation, it was a tough decision as she enjoyed her job however our youngest who has autism requires a lot of time, her mental health has been awful with trying to juggle work and his care.
At this point we're in a position that her salary wont be to much of an issue, however as she's not looking for another job nor wants to sign on as it were.
Do we have to notify anyone ? Can we pay her NI?- setting her up as self employed ? If NI isnt paid would this effect her pension ?
All help greatly received.
TIA
there's something about child benefit that means your NI contributions are still paid if you're claiming it (I think). worth a google.
Signing on doesn't necessarily mean taking money but she can get her NI contributions paid.
If NI isn't paid and/or you don't register for credits then yes her state pension will be affected if the number of years' contribution goes below the threshold, called "qualifying years". NI contributions are also important in case your wife might need statutory sick pay etc in the future.
How best to register for credits depends if she will take any other benefits (which she should consider taking everything available if she is to become the carer, i.e. caring for a child under 12 or caring for a disabled person for more than 20 hours a week). There is info on the Government web pages for national insurance credits and how to make voluntary contributions. There are many people who don't 'claim benefits' but do register for all of the credits available to them and make contributions to NI and pensions (up to £2880 per year topped up to £3600 by the Government) when they don't personally earn.
Perhaps have a chat with Citizens Advice Bureau?
Look at registering for Carer's allowance or Credit..
https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility
https://www.gov.uk/carers-credit
I was just going to add the carer's comment, nicely beaten to it by STW. We're in a similar position, though my wife has now started a part time masters course.
Thread highjack.
I was going to post up my own thread but this seems a good place to ask.
I've recently handed my notice in at work and will be unemployed at the end of next month.
No real rush to find another job and don't think I'll qualify for any benifits because of my partners income.
But I'd also like my NI payments to be paid until I find work again for pension reasons.
How do I go about this?
Don't really want to "sign on" and be forced into something I don't want to do job wise and will be OK finacialy for a good while yet.
Worked all my life and never been unemployed before so no idea what to do?
thank you for all your helpful replies, much appreciated
nor wants to sign on
Don’t really want to “sign on”
Signing on pays your NI whilst you're out of work. Why wouldn't you?
I learned this the hard way a while ago. I couldn't be arsed with fortnightly patronisation whilst looking for work in a career path the 'job seekers' could barely spell. It made a right mess of my NI payments.
@singlespeedstu I would recommend a call with CAB to find out what you are eligible for and the thresholds for things like savings. It is up to you whether you apply for Universal Credit etc but it is worth knowing what you are eligible to apply for.
If you aren't claiming any credits at all, you can voluntarily top up your NI, but it is prudent to calculate whether or not you need to to get the "qualifying year" contribution. It can be done up to 6 years afterwards, so no rush. If you earn over (I think currently about) £6,500 in a tax year where you paid NI then that tax year will count. So it may be that your employment this tax year, and as long as you are employed again next tax year, you don't lose any qualifying years. You only need 35 qualifying years before retirement (this allows for example for people to have time off for any reason like having children). It is also prudent to top up your pension (and make sure you understand what is happening to your company pension) to maximise the Government's contribution, which again depends on your circumstances. Your eligibility for Universal Credit depends on your savings and then some parts of it are means-tested by your household income, if you aren't eligible through other routes. New-style JSA I don't think is means tested, but it is time-limited and you have to show you are seeking work.
But I’d also like my NI payments to be paid until I find work again for pension reasons.
How do I go about this?
After the end of the tax year you can log in to your HMRC tax portal and see if any recent years don't have enough NIs to quality for full credit. It should then offer you the ability to pay to top up missing years (but only recent ones, you can't go back ages).
Signing on pays your NI whilst you’re out of work. Why wouldn’t you?
If you're only unemployed for a bit and have paid NI for a good chunk of that year, you'll have paid enough to qualify for the year AIUI.
Thanks all.
Been paying into the system for over 35 years so should be OK.
I'll ring CAB to be sure though at the end of next month when I get my P45.
Signing on pays your NI whilst you’re out of work. Why wouldn’t you?
Because this.
I couldn’t be arsed with fortnightly patronisation
I've left a job I grew to hate and I'm only really looking for part time work so don't want someone trying to push me into the same kind of thing.
If you claim child benefit for a child under 12 you get National Insurance credits
https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit/what-youll-get
Looks like the credits care automatic no need to claim
https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility criteria
I was on UC last year due to being unemployed. I had zero contact from anyone for over 5 months apart from the 5 mins at the job centre to prove who I was (despite going through the tortuous process of doing it online). I probably added 2 jobs a week to my online diary, that was it, no chasing, nothing.
If you’re only unemployed for a bit and have paid NI for a good chunk of that year, you’ll have paid enough to qualify for the year AIUI.
Yeah, tax years too. If you're handing in your notice now, you'll have pretty much worked the whole tax year, so odds are you'll have enough for the year to count.
Even with several months off, there's still plenty of time to build up a full year of contributions. You only need to earn about £6k for a qualifying year iirc.
Been paying into the system for over 35 years so should be OK.
If you've got 35 years already, then you probably don't need to worry at all. That'll get you the max state pension.
@singlespeedstu If you register or are already registered with the government gateway (or the gov.uk verify) it’s easy to check how much pension you are due using this link. Also it’ll tell you if you actually need to pay more NI to qualify for the full benefit- if you’ve already paid full contributions for over 35 years with no contracted out issues with other pensions in the past you might be there already.
https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension
I'd also add, just because, please claim your contribution based JSA, SSS. Stories of being dehumanised and forced to apply for any old job etc etc are much exaggerated on the internet (shock horror).
Thanks for the link johnny.
Just checked and I have 36 years of payments so looks like I'll be fine.
I will get in touch with them though.
After all they can only threaten to stop my benifits.
Not much of a threat if I'm not getting any.
Hi SSS
ive recently signed on to new style JSA after redundancy ive had phone interview which was much different to that from many yrs ago, at 1st redundancy which was as you describe dehumanising patronising etc recent event has been quite helpful and positive ive got 46 yrs of NI but dont want to loose any just for the sake of a few minutes.HTH