National insurence contributions after finished maternity leave ...?

[apotomak]

I finished my maternity leave a while ago ... both paid and unpaid one. I'm not planning on coming back to work now as I'm expecting another baby and I'll also want to stay at home for some more time. I'm not ellegible for any more maternity or any other benefits (except ChB which is paid automatically no matter what the income is). My question is ... will my National Insurence be 'paid' even though I'm not working or looking for work? If yes who 'pays' it and where can I check that it has been 'paid' for the amount of time that I've already spent at home (that's nearly 3 years)?

[Ethel]

You are credited for NI as long as you are in receipt of Child Benefit for a child under 16 - it is called Home Responsibilities Protection.

This will give you your full entitlements as if you had been working and paying NI

[zebra]

In addition to what Ethel advised. You will get your national insurance credit but this does not count towards any contributary based benefits such as Incapacity Benefit or Job Seekers Allowance should you need to claim in the future.

[THECORBYLOON]

At present, HRP is not the same as National Insurance Credits.

What HRP does is reduce the number or years a person needs to have worked or received National Insurance (NI) Credits in order to qualify for a full State Pension or Bereavement Benefit and the HRP has to cover a complete Tax Year to count toward that reduction.

A woman normally needs 39 years to get the full amount but if she has worked and earnt enough for only 26 years, she gets 67% of the full amount (26/39.)

However, if that same person has 13 years HRP, she will get the full amount because the 39 years is reduced by 13 and she has 26/26.

From 2010 the number of years required to get a full pension will be reduced to 30 and it will be in that same year that previous HRP years will be converted to NI Credits.