*I was accepted for Class II payments.

Grrr... Not enough posts to edit typo....

Your 160 yearly payment buys you 1/35th of the UK state pension.

So if you are saying the yearly pension is 180 quid a week... 180/35 (qualifying years)

Therefore a 160 quid yearly payment buys you currently 5.14 each week =267 Quid a year

We have very different logic that ultimately probably amounts to roughly the same thing so I'll just make do with eyebeebees general translation.

This bodes well then. I don't want to be ineligible due to a technicality. Fair enough if they ask for Class III whilst I was unemployed, but hope I only pay class II when I was employed in CH

For anyone who has filled in the form requesting to pay Class II contributions… how long did it take for HMRC to acknowledge/reply and how did they do so (letter, email, call)?

We sent forms off in October, but haven‘t heard anything back yet. Just wondering how long it normally takes and whether it‘s worth following up yet.

I wrote at to them at the start of June and got a reply by letter in late September if that helps.

several months. over xmas and with covid. forget about getting a quick response!

Several months. And then they sent me a statement of payment schedules for a different NI number...

Speaking of which:

For back payments, do you just put your NI number as the reference? Or reference and year for which you're paying?

6 weeks because I phoned them. The reference (in my case) NI number/lastname/initial, contact them to confirm.

For me it took around 3 months

There is an 18 digit code that you must use. It should be on one of the letters they sent you or you can call the help centre.

They state that you should see this when you make future payments. I am due to pay I think mid Feb for 6 months @£80 and it should be there also on the Direct Debit transaction. (this is from what I read on the .gov website)

I have an online account but at the moment, it still has higher amounts stated there versus what they wrote to me so will call the help centre and see if I can get that changed as there is a "pay now" option there too for each year.

Just to add, it took about 3 months for them to reply to me.

I had a higher level for 2 years and the rest as Class 2 so in total I can back pay 16 years, have 16 years and another 8 I can pay into. I need a total of 37 years to get the full pension.

Definitely worth doing in my opinion

BTW - I now have everthing 'in place' but am struggling to actually make the the make up payment.

Has anyone done this ? Did you pay in one lump sum ? How did you actually make the payment ? Did you get some advice as to how to only pay the amount you need to make up to hit the monthly max gov pension pay out ?

The bank transfer payment details are on the website and the amount you need to pay will be sent to you in a letter or will be visible in your online portal.

I just set up a direct debit using the details provided in the letter they sent.

Quick Update as I just spoken to the NI helpline to a nice lady who was very helpful.

The reference number you need to enter when making payments is incorrect in the letter they send you, it is not just your NI number or the 18 digit reference number they refer to online

Here is how you need to do it and the link to the webpage is here
Reference number
Use your National Insurance number followed by ‘IC’, your surname then your initial. If your bank limits you to a certain amount of characters, you should use your National Insurance number followed by ‘IC’ and as much of your surname as possible.

Example
If your name is Anne Jones, you’d write the reference as QQ123456AICJONESA

If you cannot make payments before the date given in "Payment date without penalty" then the penalty will be the adjusted amount decided by the rates in force decided in the UK budget.

About paying for a specific year, you can either call them or make a payment and they will allocate the amount to the earliest matching year.

I sent a test payment for one year and will follow up next month.

Really useful post, thanks! Kind of similar to my experience too, but just to add after making the payment it seemed to take quite some time for it to show on my missing years on the online portal. I think it was around two months after making the payment, I then called and enquired about thinking the payment had been missed but eventually it did get updated. Probably with the entire process lots of patience is needed! The staff are helpful and friendly at least!

We got our letters in the last couple of days confirming we are eligible for class 2 contributions by direct debit and that we are missing 10 years that we can purchase.

There are no instructions on how to buy the missing years in the letter and it also doesn‘t say what will be taken by direct debit or when. I’ve found the same info as Magic posted on how to pay, but I don’t want to pay it all now and then have a direct debit take it all again. Overall good news in the letter, but not particularly helpful. I think I‘ll have to give them a call.

You pay from your bank. The receiving details are:

Account number (IBAN) GB49BARC20204830944793
Bank Identifier Code (BIC) BARCGB22

And use the reference number as below. (Bank details taken from the linked website).

If you do call, I've found early morning is best.

I left the UK in 2021 (after April) hence gov.uk says I am up to date with contributions. Do I have to wait until April 2022 to apply for a voluntary class 2 contribution?

If I currently qualify for a class 2 contribution, will that change in 3 years' time because I will have left the UK more than 2 years before? Or if I start contributing as class 2, I can carry on for as long as I want?

Class 2 does seem like a loophole that may be closed at some point but until it is...As for the wait time, get started now because it may take until at least April to get a definite answer.