The Advice Thread

[sycophantia]

Not sure what else you can do except badger them by phone.
I've often found it a faff to get on that site.
As for your actual forecast, I think you need 35 years of NI payments (from the age of 21) to qualify for the maximum amount.
Good luck.

 

[leedswolf]

Did you ever have a UK driving licence? If so it is valid until your 70th birthday. Perhaps you could contact DVLA? Do to have a record of your NI number?

 

[Wolftone]

Thanks guys. I know I won't get the full entitlement (these days)
I did make additional contributions in the past to give me thirty years N.I. but then they moved the goalposts, surprise, surprise.
Will contact DVLA and see what they say.
Thanks again.

 

[jlo]

Asked chatgpt for you @Wolftone, as interested in the answer too. I also think AI is quite likely to be the way society goes for answers to things like this, but it does have it's faults... anyway, what it said:

You’re not missing anything — the Gov.uk Gateway is rigid and if you don’t have 2 of the 3 IDs it wants, you simply won’t get through.

What does work:
Call the Future Pension Centre (not generic DWP) and say clearly that you’re overseas and cannot pass the digital ID checks. Ask for a State Pension forecast via post or secure email.
Ask specifically for a BR19 form. That’s the paper pension forecast request. They can post it internationally (and sometimes email it). Don’t rely on “we’ll send it” unless BR19 is mentioned.
If you have access to a UK correspondence address (family, trusted contact), you can use that temporarily for DWP mail. This is common for people abroad and doesn’t affect residency or tax status.

Sadly, this is a known expat problem rather than user error.