National Insurance questions

[steelman99]

All

Ive been lucky enough to be able to retire from work at 58 years old with a decent pension , however due to contracting out of SERPS , im 5 years short of contributions for my full state pension at 67

Reading up on the subject I note that if you are caring for someone for 35 hours a week or more , you can claim class 1 NI contributions

Im presently spending a lot of time doing what I would call looking after both my elderly disabled parents & my wifes elderly parents ( both my parents get attendance allowace, the wifes parents get nothing) , but are both starting to need increasing help as they are in their 90s )

Has anyone any experience of what the government classify as care , as I must spend 5 or 6 hours a day running round for them doing bits and pieces for them - taking them shopping, or to doctors ect ( thats between the 4 of them)

I also do a bit of web design for people , so in that respct I could claim im self employed , but I do the web design work because I enjoy it , and dont charge anyone , can I ask people for a token payment of a pound and claim im self employed and pay class 2 NI? rather than the full £15 a week for class 3

[Chrysalis]

You might be able to claim carers allowance (although if you have other income or savings I suspect you won’t get any actual money from it, but possibly automatic NI credits). I think you can claim the NI credits even without doing this though.
I don’t know exactly how it’s done, you could see if it’s mentioned on Citizens Advice website, if not you could call them and they should be able to advise.

Or someone with direct knowledge might post!

[swill453]

I also do a bit of web design for people , so in that respct I could claim im self employed , but I do the web design work because I enjoy it , and dont charge anyone , can I ask people for a token payment of a pound and claim im self employed and pay class 2 NI? rather than the full £15 a week for class 3

Yes it's very easy to register as self employed and play the class 2. If your turnover is less than a certain amount (£1000?, £2000?) then you don't even need to account for it on your tax return.

Obviously you'd have to have your own records in case of further scrutiny.

Scott.

[Chrysalis]

Have a look at this, it even includes a link to the application form for ‘carers credits’.
Might be less hassle than becoming self employed, and certainly cheaper.
The key criterion you satisfy is that some of the people you care for are in receipt of attendance allowance.
Hope that helps.

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/dis ... nce-carers

[staffordian]

All I can tell you with certainty is that if you look after someone who is in receipt of Attendance Allowance you might qualify for Carers Allowance.

Details here...

https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility

You will automatically receive NI credits if awarded CA.