Off-Topic /
Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [737]
What they mean is paying the minimum
Minimum??????
It's a fixed payment for that class of NI contributions. No 'minimum', no 'maximum'.
pension system as if it's an investment?
The State Pension? It's not an investment. It's the state pension. My great grandparents fought for it to exist. There were strikes and decades of campaigning. It is my right to pay into and claim the state pension, just as it is yours too since you work there.
The current issue about a specific class of NI payments is because for the last couple of years the government have wanted people with missing or partially missing years to pay into the system.
People who have missing years, usually due to periods abroad, will only receive a partial pension however many of those would need the level making up under the Minimum Income Guarantee. This is costly, as well as there being other costs to society both financial and moral which arise from having elderly people living below the poverty line. Hence the government encouraging people to pay now.
Normally you can pay 8 years in arrears however the reason it's being discussed is because there is a current scheme to allow people to pay for more missing uears, earlier than the last 8.
