To remind you to check your pension contributions before April 2025.

I have a shortage in 1998/99 but I was at college and not employed. Although it does say as long as I have 4 more full years I’ll get my full pension.

Follow the link in the OP you will need to register for a government gateway account and then you will.have access to everything.

I was missing a few years due to unexpectedly taking early retirement. Also I fall into the WASPI group.

I paid £4,800ish to make up the gaps, I’ll make that up in 2 ½ years. From then on I’ll be better off. Definitely worth doing.

So - it seems to be telling me that I have 13 years left to pay to get to the full amount BUT I have another 21 years before I hit 68 (& I plan to work) so there’s not much point me paying to make up the missed 5 years at this point - am I right?! Thanks….. I’ve been worrying about this for ages so am really grateful you signposted this @AlisonWhatIsTheMatter !

Not really as the chances are you would end up paying more than you need to. It would be better to pay class 3 at a later date than back fill a year that you might never have needed.

Do you need to do anything to get access to the pension forecast?

You would need to check your forecast depending on when you started paying NI it could be more or less than 35 years. If your forecast says you cant increase the forecast anymore then you have enough years. If not it will tell you how many more you need.

Why April 2025?

It is the vast numbers of people who do not work, who live on benefits, contribute nothing to the state and leech money out of it who create our issues with the state pension. We can not keep carrying these people.

There are many reasons for our pension problem but I think the main one is people are living longer, so they are receiving their pension for longer. I would need to look up to confirm but since pensions form a large majority of our benefits bill I suspect pensioners are the largest group of welfare recipients in the country. I'm happy to keep carrying these people.

If you pay contributions for another 19 years then you will get the full amount. If you were to never pay another NI in your life from this moment on you would get the £106 shown in the screenshot. The amount as it stands will increase with each year you pay NI up to the max. Once you have paid enough years it will say you can't increase your forecast anymore.

Missing contributions in your 20s shouldn’t matter, as even at 30 you would expect to have at least 35 working years left to make up the contributions - I knew and didn’t bother topping up as I’ll get enough years anyway so it would have been a waste.

So surely it is better to have your full years completed as soon as you can complete them- then, as you get older you can choose to work part-time or retire early with a private pension knowing you have a full-state pension contribution paid already when you reach the required age?

I think that's the whole point of the OP's website link - the website will answer this question for you! (My understanding is that you are correct, but why not check?)

This is not correct advice as the pp has built up years before 2016. The 35 years only applies to people who started paying NI from 2016. If her forecast says she can't increase the forecast anymore then she has enough qualifying years already. People who were already paying NI before 2016 had a recalculation done when the new state pension came in. Some needed less and some needed more than 35 years depending on their circumstances.

I disagree with your advice. The poster is only in their 30's.

You seem to be assuming that pension deductions from your salary - NI contributions - stop when you have completed 35 years' worth of contributions. This is not correct, NI deductions will continue until you reach state pension age (under current rules). If you top up your previous years and you are suddenly unable to work for evermore, it might affect your pension positively. If you continue to work until you are 67, 68 or whatever random ridiculous age the government decides by the time you get there, your partly funded years won't matter at all unless you have not got 35 (or however many years it is by then) fully funded years.

I assume if you already have the required 35 years of contribution it would be totally pointless purchasing any missing years, however recent?

I was made redundant during Covid so my recent record is patchy with missing years.

Not really because as long as she is working for the future years she will still have to pay NI contributions so will meet the criteria with what she is paying. No point paying for 1 past year if you still have plenty of years left to work and contribute.

I agree, you are potentially paying double

But you can't opt out of paying NICs, so you don't get any kind of benefit for "finishing" your 33 years early. And at 30 you have over 30 years to go before you can claim the pension anyway, so plenty of time to make up the 24 years needed. And policies can change within that time so I wouldn't say it's clearcut to pay the £800 per year. (As I understand it!) Personally if I was 30 and had some gaps I don't think I'd pay them,

I can see whatever government increasing state pension age to 70 in the next 10 years.
I can also see state pensions undergoing massive change so that they become means tested.

I don't think either will happen quickly. They have to give people a chance to prepare for those changes which takes years and will require a different approach to saving and investment for individuals so that they do not end up significantly worse off.

But it will come and it is a disgrace. We have amongst the very worst state pension levels in Europe and are one of the wealthiest countries. People pay into the state pension their whole working life- and it is 1/3rd of the minimum living wage. Many also pay into employment/private pensions to back up a basic living standard when they are pensioners.

It is the vast numbers of people who do not work, who live on benefits, contribute nothing to the state and leech money out of it who create our issues with the state pension. We can not keep carrying these people.

Not really because as long as she is working for the future years she will still have to pay NI contributions so will meet the criteria with what she is paying. No point paying for 1 past year if you still have plenty of years left to work and contribute.

Thanks for this OP.

I've just checked mine.
I have 4 payable gaps but the forecast says I will get the max amount per week £220.21 so is there any point paying the gaps? They're a lot of money that I don't have lying about.

Please don't just pay, if you're not 100% certain that you need to.

I phoned HMRC about this last week and was strongly advised not to pay my missing years until I'd spoken to someone at the Future Pensions department.

If you are likely to be working, and paying a stamp, for the full 35 years required then it's pointless paying for a few missing years. If you get to say 58 and you've paid all 35 you will still have to pay NI on your earnings. The deduction doesn't stop just because you've enough qualifying years for a state pension.

It will say in your forecast if you have enough years. If you do then it will be paid at the rate of the New State Pension which will also be on the forecast. This obviously increases each year as well.

I’m 43 next week.

Yes, that means you don't have to (and can't) do anything right now. There are no missing years which you are able to top up right now.

It doesn't mean you will definitely get the full state pension, even if the law remains unchanged. It does mean that you are on track to get full state pension, either by working enough years in future or buying extra years in future. Count up the number of full years in your record to see whether you already have 35, or if not, how many more years you'd need to work in order to reach 35.

If you don't end up working enough years to get the full state pension, you'll want to consider buying extra years. But that isn't something you are able to do in advance.