Top up your pension pot

[ChiffandBipper]

Posting here as it gets the most traffic and I've seen loads of posts over the years from people worrying about pensions/retirement, so hope this helps someone...

Just wanted to share this in case there was anyone who needs to know/think about this. My sister worked abroad so missed out on a lot of national insurance contributions and recently paid back the missing years so her state pension is now unaffected. I was talking to a friend who had a career break due to having children and she didn't know you could do this. She wasn't working and didn't receive child benefit because her partner was a high earner, but the relationship has since imploded and she now has a big gap in her national insurance contributions.

So in case anyone is in the same boat and wants to check that their national insurance contributions are up to date and that they are on track to get the full state pension or need to make some payments, please visitwww.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record (or Google "check national insurance contributions" if you don't like clicking URLs posted on random Internet sites)
Normally you can buy back up to six years, but when the 'new' state pension was introduced, arrangements were put in place to let you plug gaps all the way back to 2006. This larger window closes on 5 April 2025.

Read more about it on
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/

Goodness @LumpBiscuit , that's a lot! How many years is that for?

Your friend should have been able to get the NI credit even if she wasn’t eligible for CB. She should give them a call as they may be able to sort this for her.

Also, you can register for child benefit but just choose not to receive any money if you are over the threshold. So your NI credit is taken account of.
Would’ve helped your friend I’m sure!

YANBU but technically your state pension is not a ‘pot’. If you can afford to plug any gaps in your contribution history to increase your future allowance you definitely should, but it’s not a pot in the sense that a SIPP or other scheme is.

It does seem a lot ........however, if depends how long you live for after state pension age. For example, if you get your state pension at 68 and live until you're 90, that's nearly £23k extra you'll receive in pension in that time, by paying £8,500 now. I appreciate it's hard to know how long we might live for though!

Yes, but the £20 will go up each year with the annual pension increase. If you live 8 years past state pension age, which most people will you would have broken even amd then every year you live after that is extra money. Even just paying some of the missing years can have a big impact.

There’s something wrong with those numbers.
It takes around 3 years of claiming a pension to get back the money spent on topping up NI for years not paid.