Fake passport = pension?

If you stole the identity of a real person, perhaps.

If it's a brand new NI number, there won't be any contribution records held against it.

I assume you are referring to a STATE pension.

Apart from the obvious illegality of the suggestion (which many tax paying UK residents would rightly be incensed at), having an NI number passport and birth certificate does not, in itself, entitle you to a UK state pension.

State pension rights are built up through payment of National Insurance over a number of years. You have to have built up a minimum of 30 years of qualifying NI contributions to qualify for a full state pension if you reach retirement age after 2010 (currently it's 39 years for women and 44 years for men). Partial state pension entitlement can be obtained with a lesser number of qualifying years of contributions.

Reestit Mutton

True, but you can get Pension Credit which makes your income up to about 110 a week (significantly more than the state pension) without any NI contributions at all.

Ah yes...I forgot about that - of course, this is a means tested benefit so, if the OP has savings and investments of around 60K or more, then no pension credit will be paid. However a "savings credit" of just under £20 a week may be payable if the person in question is over 65 and his savings/investments amount to between approx. 45K and 85K.

(all the above assumes that the person does not live with an eligible partner)

Reesit Mutton

Sorry...I should have also added that I'm assuming that the OP's hypothetical person doesn't have any other income from e.g a job or other pensions as that would vastly reduce the level of savings required to lose the credits.

Of course, if the claimant is prepared to go to the lengths of obtaining fake documents then I guess that he's also prepared to lie about his income when claiming the pension credit so the above may prove to be an irrelevance.

Reestit Mutton

Let's be pedantic on this subject in this group. Each year qualifies on the basis of qualifying EARNINGS, not CONTRIBUTIONS. There is a close link, but it's quite possible for someone to have sufficient qualifying years for a full state pension without having actually paid any contributions at all, ever.

Matti

Is it not the case that non-payment only counts if the year in question is allowed as an exemption e.g. the claimant was on benefits, or occupied as a primary carer etc...?

So someone who turns up at the pensions service door with a fake NI number with no contributions would have to prove that he/she has enough years of exemptions.

Reestit Mutton

No, it is not. If you have earnings above the LEL but below the PT, in any period, that period will qualify.

Or of enough earnings to qualify, even if those earnings did not require a contribution.

Is that not just another case of exemption in the sense that the person is exempt from having to pay anything to qualify?

(my examples were not intended to be exhaustive)

Reestit Mutton

There is no concept of "exemption from making contributions", but rather "exemption from having to meet the qualifying earnings limit". Contributions are utterly and completely irrelevant; they just happen to closely follow the earnings qualification criteria.

Matti

Actually there is the "small earnings exception" from making class 2 contributions if self-employed. Of course, anyone claiming this will not be able to claim to have had qualifying earnings from the self employment in question (but may have from other earnings).

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