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

[AlisonWhatIsTheMatter]

I’ve checked mine and even though I was advised to contract out of SERPS in the late 80s, (currently resting in Phoenix Life) I’m not missing any years of contributions ( I think) my forecast on GOV.UK states I cannot improve my forecast anymore.

I was reminded to check again last night after watching Martin Lewis.

Just a reminder to check your contributions before April 2025 otherwise you might not get another chance to ‘plug in’ any gaps.

I’ve attached my GOV.UK forecast so you can compare what yours states.

If only retirement age was still at 60! I’d have 5 years to go. 😩

I've checked my government gateway account and my forecast has 35 complete years (I'm 58 and started paying NI at 16 but recently have missed years).

A lot of these sites that encourage you to buy missing years, rarely point out that if you have the required 35 years of full contribution that it would be pointless to buy more (unless the government moves the goal posts). By the time I retire at 67, I will have probably have paid in 40 years of NI contributions.

For those that won't have 35 complete years, don't sweat it because you can claim pension credit (a form of welfare) to make up the shortfall.

For most people though, it should be unnecessary to top up NI contributions right? I believe only 35 years of contributions are needed, so most people in employment will hit that in their mid 50s or so, more than 10 years ahead of the state pension age.

Is my understanding correct?

Correct

Also, people claiming certain benefits including child benefit would have a stamp paid so it's not just 35 years of employment that count.

Providing care for someone, even if you don't qualify for Carers Allowance, can also mean a stamp is paid, something called Carers Credit. Equivalent to about £17 a week if you were to pay Class 3 stamp yourself.

I'd love to, but HMRC haven't told the pensions side that I have paid tax/ni for the last 3 years so don't have a clue.

Pretty pissed off that I won't get a full pension despite paying in for 40years because I opted out of surps, but someone starting work tomorrow and only paying 35 years will. I've got 11 years of paying ni before I get a pension so that's 51years contribution and still won't get a full pension (yes I know that the money went into my private pension...but I have family who have NEVER had a job now getting a full pension)

Not everyone needs 35 years some need less some need more. It is only people that started paying after 2016 that need an exact 35 years.
The government gateway will that will say you can't increase your forecast anymore when you get to that point.
I wouldn't advise anyone not to worry because the will get pension credit. Pension credit wouldn't be available to most people who are working now. If you work and are auto enrolled in a pension scheme you would very likely be over the threshold for pension credit if you get almost the full state pension.

Have you actually checked your forecast. SERPs was in relation to the 2nd state pension which doesn't exist for current workers. The new state pension is what you will get. Your forecast will tell you what you are at just now amd how many more years to get the full amount. Opting put of the second state pension just meant that you paid the money to a private / workplace pension so the amount that you would have got in second state pension will come from your private/ workplace arrangement.

Also worth to note, the government gateway only shows the online make up payments of class 3 NI. Depending on your circumstances, you may be eligible to only pay class 2. Difference is @ 860 vs @ £180 per year.
If you are eligible to pay class 2, you need to phone them and they will send a statement and an amount to pay.

Yes, for most people who are unable to work for any reason they would be likely to get NI credits as long as they claimed the appropriate benefit - claiming child benefit (even if no payment made), carer's allowance, carer's credit, Universal Credit, new style ESA, JSA will all contribute to NI credits. So the numbers of people who stop work and don't qualify for any of those won't be that many.

I've checked my NI record and I have a full record although only 3 years were from employment - the rest have been from child benefit or carer's allowance (and the child benefit will cover me for the rest of the contributions I will ever need as my youngest is 2).

Can someone explain this to me like I'm an idiot (I obviously am!)?

I'm late 30s and missed some contributions in my late teens/early 20s. Should I definitely pay them now or can I pay them later than April? I feel so embarrassed that I don't know about pensions even though I contribute to a private one through work, I'm just hoping I'll be ok!

Before you do anything you should check your forecast on the government gateway.

Thankyou I've just checked and all maxed so on track to get full pension .

Thank you so much op for the reminder to look into this. I wonder if anyone could advise me - I've been unemployed for nearly 3yrs as a SAHM. We don't claim child benefit as DH over the earning threshold. I know I should be to get stamps paid, and then pay it back, but have never gotten round to sorting it.

I went in to my gateway account there on your prompt and it said I have the full year in these recent years - that can't be right can it? Haven't claimed any benefits.

It’s not worth it is she plans on working for the foreseeable future. She is only 30 she has another 38 years till retirement. Once she has the required number of years she can’t improve her pension further but if she’s working she will still continue to pay ni but those years will not count as she already has enough. If she can get enough by the years she is going to work it’s not worth paying voluntary. It’s only worth it when you are running out of years to work before your retirement date and are short on qualifying years

You don’t have to be paid the child benefit and pay it back to get ni credit. If you originally claimed but now opted not to have the money that will still count. The issue is where someone never put in a claim for child benefit so they are not within the system. Does this explain your situation?

It’s to check your NI contributions have been correctly recorded. If not it’s much easier to resolve now than in 20 years time.

It also shows if you have a part year and the cost to making it a full year.

Agree with rainbowunicorn you should check your statement but a few things that might help with getting head round it.

If the gaps you mention are pre 2006 then you won't be able to pay extra to fill them after April 2025. From then on you will only be able to pay for gaps within the last six years.

However, you may not need to pay the gaps. Your statement will tell you how many more years of contributions you need to reach the maximum state pension amount. It will also tell you the date at which you can claim state pension. (Under the current rules which may of course change).

If you have many more working years ahead of you and not many contributions needed for the full pension then it's probably not worth you plugging any gaps. If you had just a few years until you can claim state pension, and hadn't yet reached the full amount according to your statement, then it might be worth paying to plug those gaps.

So based just on your age and that you have only a few gaps, it seems likely that you don't need to pay to fill them. But take a look at the statement :)

Over half of all uk residents are net beneficiaries of the welfare state. That includes pretty much everyone who is not a higher rate taxpayer. We are just not paying enough in

Mine says £221.20 and I can't improve it further. Although who knows whether the goalposts will be moved and in a few years time it'll say I'm not entitled to anything and I need to attend the workhouse or something!

Hoping someone can answer this for me.

I am 45 and it says I need to contribute another 5 years to be fully paid up and get full state pension I’m 2047

So should that mean I have 30 years so far as you need 35 years altogether? Because when I count the years I have, I only have 28. Another 5 years would only get me to 33? Do I need 33 or 35 years?

I don’t work so will need to pay the gap, but I’m wondering if that will be 5 years like the site says, but that will only get me to 33 years, or whether I need to pay 7 years to get me to 35 years.

Mine are all paid and I'm stopping May next year. I can't wait 😎

@PensionQ I had that. When I enquired, I found I had two fully paid up years from when I was in the sixth form with holiday & weekend jobs.

There is a significant group who contribute nothing and take every penny they live on.

The 35 years doesn't apply to you as you have contributions dating pre 2016. If it says 5 years is what you need then that will be correct. Anyone who had paid NI before 2016 had a recalculation done at that point. Some need less and some more depending on individual circumstances.

So I'm trying to decide if there's any benefit to me in topping up the few years I worked for myself and made no money. Theoretically I will have 35 years' worth contributions way before pension age....but what if pension age changes and we're told we need 40 or 45 years' of contributions?