Thanks for the tip, I've several friends with dogs. I'm sure they'll help get me down from C3 to C2!

All done on-line - no human beans involved.

I can't exactly tell you how I get to the shortfall page, it seems a bit hit and miss but I think it involved logging in again. Anyhow:

Tax year gap Cost
2006 to 2007 £824.20
2013 to 2014 £824.20
2014 to 2015 £824.20
2015 to 2016 £824.20
2016 to 2017 £824.20
2017 to 2018 £824.20
2018 to 2019 £824.20
2019 to 2020 £824.20
2020 to 2021 £795.60
2021 to 2022 £800.80
2022 to 2023 £824.20
Total cost £9,014.20

Option 11 increases your State Pension forecast to £204.26 a week.
This means your State Pension forecast will increase by £66.84 a week.

So ~£3,475 uplift from retirement onwards for the £9,014 cost.

They can pull the payment from your bank but I opted to set up a payee and do a normal transfer. I'll check the record in about 10 days time to ensure it shows. So in that respect all fairly trouble free other than I would rather have only gone to 2019-20 and then caught up with the rest annually thereafter.

Now, my wife does a lot of crochet, thick jumpers, woolley hats and is prepared to do these at a fair price - so, any orders and we can then cut back on the costs of NI for 2024-2030.

Yes I can confirm that Gov in their infinite wisdom delete Gov Gateway accounts after 3 years without use. However also beware that it may not be straightforward or free to gain a new account. The 'computer says' you can use different ways to verify your ID chosen from a list when you try to register for a new account. But there is no choice, you must have a current valid Passport and/or Photo Driving Licence. And quite how they expect you to remember when you last took out a new credit card - in my case well over 10 years ago - is beyond me.

In my case my passport expired some months ago. I also still have a paper driving licence as I have lived at the same address for many years so no reason to change it. If you want a photocard driving licence you cannot now do this unless you have a valid passport first. 'The computer' will only use your centrally recorded passport photo to create the photocard driving licence.

There is no alternative route to gain a Gov Gateway account other than 'the computer'. You will be told to telephone (good luck) the relevant department every time you have any query or want any information and told to tell them you are 'DIGITALLY EXCLUDED' !

Getting a new passport 'online' will take 3 weeks variable and actually costs £103 (not the £88 claimed).

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On a wider note as a citizen I object to what amounts to the essentially mandatory imposition of a UK Identity Card (i.e. a passport). I also suspect that other branches of government may have ready access to passport images and may use them to obtain facial images and even to use them for facial recognition cameras.
https://libertyinvestigates.org....ne%20months%20of%202023.

Please be aware that we are all being brought under total digital control by totalitarian leaderships that care nothing for civil liberties or individual freedoms. We are in effect being turned into 'little China'. One day people will find almost their every action can be controlled by the state at the touch of a button, or worse by some AI engine. No you may not buy a train ticket to a Tommy Robinson demonstration but you can to a Palestinian demo.. No you may not purchase any more booze as our records show you have attended AA. No you may not walk down any high street without being facially scanned and your movements logged by big brother. Given the direction of travel and the intent of the master race of politicians shown by 'two tier Kier' individual freedom and privacy is to be expunged forever.

It is just for efficient policing and to keep you safe they said. '...then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.'

Referring to my sons working abroad and not paying NIs on the basis that state pensions might not be in their current form in 30 years I was told that in Australia you don't qualify for a state pension until you have used up all of your private assets. Perhaps we could see something similar here eventually.