To help decide if it’s a good idea to a pay a voluntary National Insurance (NI) contribution, you should first find out how you currently stand with regard to your entitlement to the state pension. To qualify for the full rate of basic state pension, by the time you reach your state pension age you’ll need 30 qualifying years. These are years in which you have paid enough NI or are credited with sufficient NI contributions. You can find out more by asking for a state pension forecast.
I suspect much will depend on your future plans. If there is plenty of time after you return to the UK and before your state pension age in which you can pay enough NI to meet the 30-year target, paying a voluntary contribution now may not be so much of an issue. You should also remember that you can pay a voluntary contribution for any one of the last six tax years, so you may not have to make that decision now.
The timescales and ability to pay a voluntary NI contribution can also differ depending on when you reach state pension age. More details on this are available at the Pensions Advisory Service, where there's a section on voluntary National Insurance contributions.
I should also mention that a voluntary NI contribution doesn’t only protect your state pension record. The amount of Bereavement Allowance payable to your spouse in the event of your death also depends on your NI record, although hopefully this isn’t an area of concern.
With regard to your private pension, I think you should follow a similar process and establish how you currently stand and your options under the scheme with regard to the period of unpaid leave. You may, for example, be allowed to pay contributions now or later to fill this gap, but whether you can will depend on the pension scheme’s own rules. The scheme’s administrator should be able to explain.
Contributions to pension plans are, however, locked away to be used for retirement benefits. The earliest benefits can be paid, subject to the pension scheme rules, is 55 years. So you do need to consider whether, in the short-term, you will have need access to the contributions you are thinking of making. But any additional contribution will boost your pension and so, if you can afford to do so, you should give it serious thought. If you do have money to spare, the younger you are when you make a contribution, the more affordable it is.
If, after weighing up your options, you do decide that paying into your AVC scheme would be worthwhile, you might also get the benefit of tax relief, even though it sounds like you aren't currently a taxpayer. If you have no earnings it’s still possible to get tax relief on gross contributions to a pension scheme of up to £3,600. There are complications and limits if you are overseas, but it can still be possible if you are both a UK resident during the last five tax years and a member of the pension scheme. HM Revenue & Customs' website has all the details here.
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