Why Your National Insurance Record Matters
Every tax year you either get a qualifying year on your National Insurance record or you do not. Those qualifying years decide how much new State Pension you receive. You usually need 35 qualifying years for the full new State Pension and at least 10 to get any at all.
A year with a gap is one where you did not pay enough National Insurance and did not receive enough credits for it to count. Gaps are common after time abroad, a period of low earnings, self employment with small profits, or a career break that was not covered by credits.
How to Check Your Record
- Online: use the Check your National Insurance record service on GOV.UK. You sign in with your Government Gateway or GOV.UK One Login details.
- HMRC app: the free HMRC app shows your record and lets you see which years are full and which have gaps.
- State Pension forecast: the Check your State Pension forecast service tells you what you could get and whether filling gaps would increase it.
Look at your forecast before you pay anything. It shows whether you can still reach the full amount through future years of work or credits, which may mean you do not need to fill an old gap at all.
Credits Can Fill Gaps for Free
You do not have to be paying National Insurance for a year to count. National Insurance credits are added to your record in many situations, for example:
- Claiming Child Benefit for a child under 12, even if you have opted out of receiving the payments because of the High Income Child Benefit Charge.
- Caring for someone for at least 20 hours a week, or receiving Carer's Allowance.
- Receiving certain benefits while unable to work through illness or disability, or while looking for work.
- Grandparents and other family members caring for a child under 12 while the parent works, through Specified Adult Childcare credits, which must be applied for.
If you stopped Child Benefit payments to avoid the High Income Child Benefit Charge, make sure you still submitted the claim form. Without a claim, the non earning parent may miss out on credits. Our
High Income Child Benefit Charge guide explains the rules.
Paying Voluntary Contributions
If a gap cannot be covered by credits, you may be able to pay voluntary National Insurance to turn that year into a qualifying year. There are two types:
Voluntary Class 2
For self employed people whose profits are below the level at which Class 2 is treated as paid, and for some people who work abroad. It is the cheaper of the two if you are eligible.
Voluntary Class 3
For most other people, including those who were not working, were living abroad or had low earnings. It costs more per week than Class 2.
The weekly rates change each tax year, and you usually pay the rate for the year you are filling. Our National Insurance rates guide lists the current figures, and GOV.UK confirms the exact cost of each gap when you check your record.
How Far Back Can You Go?
In most cases you can pay voluntary contributions for gaps in the previous six tax years. Each year therefore has its own deadline of 5 April, six years after the end of the year with the gap. Once that date passes, the gap usually cannot be filled.
Check your record well before 5 April each year. That is when the oldest year you can still fill drops out of the window.
When Paying Is, and Is Not, Worth It
- Often worth it: when your forecast shows you will fall short of the full new State Pension and you will not have enough working years left to close the gap.
- Often not needed: when you still have enough working years ahead to reach 35 qualifying years anyway.
- Check first: if you were contracted out of the State Second Pension before April 2016, your starting amount may work differently, so a full record may not mean the full amount.
GOV.UK advises contacting the Future Pension Centre before paying if you are unsure whether a voluntary payment will increase your State Pension. It is free and can confirm what a particular year is worth to you.
How to Pay
- Check which years have gaps and whether paying would help, using your record and forecast.
- Use the online service on GOV.UK or the HMRC app to pay for eligible recent years, or follow the GOV.UK instructions to get a payment reference from HMRC.
- Pay by bank transfer using that reference.
- Check your record again after a few weeks to make sure the year now shows as full.
HMRC will never ask you to pay National Insurance through a link in a text message or an unexpected phone call. Only pay through GOV.UK or the HMRC app. See our
HMRC scam warnings guide.
Plan Around Your Pension
Your State Pension is only one part of retirement income. Use the pension calculator to see how workplace and personal savings could add to it, and read our guide to pension tax relief to make the most of what you put in.