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Written question asked by Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative) on Tuesday, 29 April 2025, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 14 May 2025. It was answered by Lord Livermore (Labour) on Wednesday, 14 May 2025 on behalf of the Treasury.

Voluntary Contributions

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total projected lifetime cost to the Treasury of state pension entitlements arising from voluntary National Insurance contributions since 2013; and whether HMRC collects data on the residency or tax contribution history of individuals making such contributions, including during the 2023 to 2025 period when up to 18 years of back-payments were permitted.

Answer

HMRC does not have comprehensive records showing the total number of people who have purchased missing qualifying years, or the full value of these contributions paid across the range of available payment channels. As such, DWP have not been able to estimate the additional State Pension lifetime entitlement associated with these payments.

However, since the online State Pension forecast service was launched on 29 April 2024, 138,000 people have paid £180 million of contributions through this service.

HMRC collects residency and tax contribution history as part of the application process for paying voluntary National Insurance contributions . However, the cost of producing reliable statistics would represent a disproportionate cost.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL6982
Session
2024-26
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Voluntary contributions State retirement pensions
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk