Today I was, as you do, reading about the changes to state pension eligibility and National Insurance payments. What are UK FIREers going to do about NI contributions? Make voluntary ones to get the full pension? Stop contributing when you stop work and let your stash carry you through?
As things stand, it will make sense for me to do so. AIUI, you need 35 years of contributions to get the full pension and I'm currently on 27 I think and not likely to retire for 3-4 more years. I've had two 12-month periods of time out of work - one for final year of university and one for travelling, but both of those spanned two tax years, so currently have an unbroken record back to 1989. Currently, it is much cheaper to call yourself self-employed and pay class 2 rather than pay the class 3 voluntary contributions. My wife, on the other hand, having been a stay at home mother for 15 years and spent some time out of the UK before and after university, probably doesn't hit the 10 year minimum yet.
However, as will all things related to pensions and benefits, the government of the day can change the rules on a whim. I think the argument to combine income tax & NI into one single tax is a pretty strong one. As someone preparing to live off my income, I'm OK with tax on earnings from savings/investments being lower than tax on earnings from working, but it's not obvious why this is the right thing for the country. It's largely a hidden transfer from those of working age to wealthy pensioners.