Will the High Income Benefit Charge Affect Your State Pension?

The child benefit charge was introduced in 2013 and affect over 1 million families. If you or your partner earn an adjusted income of between £50,000 – £60,000 your child benefits could be cut. Adjusted income is your total taxable income before personal allowances, less gift aid and pension contributions – click here to read more.

Under current rules, individuals must make National Insurance contributions for 35 years to receive a full State Pension. Individuals may claim Child Benefit and choose not to receive the payments, which means they do not have to pay the charge but still receive the associated National Insurance Credits (NIC) for that year and protect their State Pension entitlement.

Note that grandparents who have ceased working and are looking after their grandchildren may also claim NIC credits for that year which would count towards their 35-year contribution history. You can check your National Insurance record on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) website.

The DWP website lets you check:

• what you’ve paid, up to the start of the current tax year (6 April 2019)
• any National Insurance credits you’ve received
• if gaps in contributions or credits mean some years do not count towards your State Pension (they are not ‘qualifying years’)
• if you can pay voluntary contributions to fill any gaps and how much this will cost

You can check your State Pension online at any time for a forecast of how much you could get. The service will also confirm when you will reach State Pension age, under current law. Note that the Government proposes to increase the State Pension age to 68 from 2037.

If you would like further assistance please contact us on 01295 477 250 alternatively you can email [email protected].