Back in April 2016, the introduction of the new state pension stipulated that people need to have 35 qualifying years on their National Insurance record to gain a full state pension.
People can easily miss these National Insurance (NI) years, for example when experiencing periods of low income, taking a career break or caring for children, or those whose self-employed earnings haven't required them to pay class 2 National Insurance.
For those who may have missing NI years between 2006 and 2018 the deadline is 5th April 2025 to plug any gaps. This is particularly important for older individuals who may not have the opportunity to plug any gaps naturally by future working.
Check if you have paid enough NI to get the full state pension.
The Check your State Pension forecast service allows people to view any gaps in their NI record and pay voluntary contributions to fill those gaps, if it will benefit them. The digital service will show people by how much their state pension could increase and details of the voluntary NI contributions they would need to pay to achieve this.
It gives anyone with NI gaps in some of their tax years the opportunity to increase their state pension. They can pay securely through the service and will receive confirmation that their payment has been received and that their NI record will be updated.
How to pay voluntary NI contributions
You can access the Check your State Pension forecast via GOV.UK or via the HMRC app. Those who are eligible have until 5 April 2025 to pay voluntary contributions to make up gaps in your NI record between 6 April 2006 and 5 April 2018. From 6 April 2025, you will only be able to pay voluntary contributions for the previous six tax years, in line with normal time limits.
Paying voluntary contributions will not always increase your state pension but everyone can use the new service to check whether they could be better off in retirement before deciding to make any voluntary NI payments. You will need to log in to the new digital service using your personal tax account login details.
Those without an online HMRC account can register on GOV.UK.
Unfortunately, even if we are registered as your agent, we are unable to get pension forecasts on your behalf.