How do I make a Voluntary Contribution for NIC.

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Recently checked my Pension Forecast on the .Gov gateway app and discovered that the year 20-21 was only partially paid, (turns out it was because my son was 12 that year), so only 36 weeks paid. It says I can make a Voluntary Contribution to top up the year but it doesn't tell me how, I keep following the links but they seem to just go round in circles. I rang HMRC but they referred me to Future Pensions Centre who referred me back to HMRC as apparently they collect the payment.
Does anyone know how I make the payment.

Working
Receipt of other benefits
Or suggest looking on www.gov.uk

How close to retirement are you? It may not be worth your while to pay the NI contributions if you are working now and have several years before retirement. Go onto gov.uk and search for pension forecast. You will need to log onto your account or get a login if you don't already have one.
It will show you whether you are forecast to have a full pension when you retire.
If you are close to retirement it could make a difference to your pension. But you have 6 years to pay back missing years.
If you do decide you need to pay phone HMRC and tell them you want to pay missing contributions they will tell you how much and give you a reference and a sort code. It will be about £800 so only pay it if it will affect your pension chances are it won't.

I have just seen you have looked at your pension forecast. Did you look at your final pension forecast if you continue working until pension age? The current full pension is £185 if you haven't been in a contracted out company pension scheme. If you have it is reduced anyway.
If your projected pension is around that figure it's not worth paying back the list year.

How old are you, and how many years have you paid NI contributions so far? How many more years will you continue to work until retirement? You might not need to make any additional contributions at all.

Following as I am having the exact same problem. I want to buy back one year which will cost me approx 95 as that is all I am short of for that particular year. However, I too am being sent round in circles. Isn't there a phone number we can just ring and pay by card over the phone?

Sorry I haven't made it clear, I'm happy with the maths and the value of making the payment, what I'm trying to find out is how to actually do it.
@Suedomin When I spoke to HMRC they just referred me to Future Pensions who then sent me back to HMRC, but I'll try them again and specifically ask for a reference and account number, thanks.

I'm following too. Apparently one year I missed and need to pay £15 which obviously I'm happy to pay but no instructions how! Please update if you have success!

www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance

I googled NI bank details...

Use your online or telephone banking account to make your payment to the following HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) bank account.
Sort code Account number Account name
08 32 20 12001004 HMRC NICO

Reference number
Use the 18-digit reference number shown on your HMRC payment request, when you make a payment. Do not leave any spaces between the digits.
If you do not have an 18-digit reference number you can get help from the National Insurance Helpline.

I'm sure if you put your NI number it'll be just fine.

www.gov.uk/pay-class-2-national-insurance/bank-details

Depends if you are/were self employed or employed.

Class 2 contributions are fixed weekly amounts paid by self-employed people. Class 3 contributions are voluntary NICs paid by people wanting to fill gaps in their contributions record.

You need to call them to get a reference number. Just tell them you have decided to pay it and don’t let them refer you back to the futures pensions helpline.

Thanks for this, I’ve just made it work. It took 20minutes or so on the future pensions helpline, then 30 minutes on the payments number (03002003500) to get my 18 digit number as my payments reference.

I spoke with pleasant knowledgeable staff when I finally got through

Thanks for sharing, I need to do this too and it's confusing

Thanks, this is really helpful. It’s on my To Do List to call and arrange - must get it done well before April!

As explained above, yes it does work. I paid for about 10 years of missed contributions, I had worked abroad so missed them. I now have enough contributions paid for a full state pension. Definitely a good value investment for the future!

Hi I am Placemarking as I think I need to
Do this

Thanks for this.

I'd also like to top up some partial years, but I'd been struggling to find out how to. Given that its ending in April, you would think they would make it easier to access.

My DD and her DH have worked abroad for 9 years and aren’t in a rush to return to the UK so they started voluntary contributions when they left. Currently mid 30s.

I know this is an old thread, but I'm having the same problem today.

I'm about to claim my state pension but my forecast shows:
(a) I only have 29 years paid up out of 30 years
(b) there's one year which they're allegedly checking, which may or may not be eligible to be the final year. This year is within the older years which I can cough up for but I have to do it by ?5 April 2023. So I need to know whether it's in or out.

I rang the number on the web page: 08007310181.
I tried an option which was for a query about a pension forecast. It cut the call.

I rang again & tried various options. One gave a rapid tone & then cut the call. Another told me I needed to call HMRC on 03002003500.

I called them & an automated system told me I needed to call DWP's 'Future Pension Centre' on 08007310175.

This turned out to sound exactly the same as 08007310181 & sure enough, when I chose the option for a query about a pension forecast, it cut the call.

Who sets up a 'helpline' which cuts out on people as soon as you say you have a query for them to answer? I haven't managed to speak to a single human being yet.

(Actually, paying NI contributions voluntarily via self assessment has been hidden, fudged & made extremely difficult to do in the last few years, yet previously there was a simpler way to do it which didn't need to be changed.)

People last summer said they solved this problem. How?? @user1499114292 managed it:

Thanks for this, I’ve just made it work. It took 20minutes or so on the future pensions helpline, then 30 minutes on the payments number (03002003500) to get my 18 digit number as my payments reference.
I spoke with pleasant knowledgeable staff when I finally got through

But I just get cut off immediately.

I managed to do it about a month ago - took ages and did seem a ridiculously long and convoluted process. I made the payment but they said it can take 6 weeks to show up and it hasn't yet. I seem to remember it taking a while to get through to someone at Future Pensions - once I managed that and got a reference number, the next stage of calling the other number to make the payment was quicker.

Good luck!

I think you can only "top up" the previous 6 tax years.

I found out how much I could pay for incomplete/invalid recent years by clicking on the tax year history of my entire NI contributions on my pension forecast (which was on my self-assessment .gov page).

I am still waiting on the outcome of 2012/2013 NI records when I was made redundant and spent 6 months on the dole. The next tax-year I was self-employed and paid NI Class 2 (about £158 a year).

Found out I've contributed over £185K in NI since 1982, hopefully will have enough qualifying years for a full state pension before they move the goal posts again or scrap the pension.

@JaniceLongSchlong you’re about the same age and contributions as me then.
From 2016 to April 2023, the gov changed the rules and allowed people to back pay to 2006. This was to allow people to adapt to the new pension rules.
So the 6 year rule resumes this April.
35 years contributions should be easily achievable, and we are old enough that even if the gov decides to change again ( like make it means tested) it should not affect anyone @55 or older.

@ifIwerenotanandroid I managed to do this yesterday.

The number to call is 03002003500, and then on the voice thing I said "reference number to pay voluntary national insurance" you have to listen to a load of recorded messages and then eventually you get put in a queue. It took me 1h12m to get through, but when I did they were very helpful.

I don't know if they can advise you on whether that year counts, but they can generate the 18 digit number for you.

Hope this helps.

Am currently on my third attempt on the 0300 number, apparently my call is important to them and they're grateful I'm continuing to hold, the previous 2 attempts I've given up at the 1 hr 15 min point. I don't know why it isn't available on your personal profile when you log onto gateway.

It’s hard not to have a cynical view on why there isn’t an easier way to do this! Hope you succeed in the end.