How do I make a Voluntary Contribution for NIC.

[1099]

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.

plus all the previous times I called and got cut off after about 15 minutes

Actually I now remember when I was calling them in February it was just cutting you off as soon as you got through the menu. So 15 mins something of an improvement, but not much.

Okay so good update on the mythical 18 digit number, I was intending to pay for one year and then start regular payments from now on, but I could maybe lessen the horror by buying a few more previous years and banking them in one go.

*tribpot · Today 14:55
plus all the previous times I called and got cut off after about 15 minutes

Actually I now remember when I was calling them in February it was just cutting you off as soon as you got through the menu. So 15 mins something of an improvement, but not much.*

Ha! It was taking 15 minutes to get through the menu, because they would give a long stream of "we are experiencing high volume of calls, you might like to look at gov.uk etc. etc." interspersed with the menu numbers, so you couldn't get on with anything else as you had to be ready to press the numbers.

Good luck.

I had to call my credit card company today and similarly did battle with god knows how many repeated 'you know you could do all this online? Why not bog off?' type messages. Yes, if I could do it online I bloody well would. Wish there was an option for 'press 1 if you actually understand how to do stuff online and genuinely have a query that can't be dealt with that way'.

My problem is that I’m locked out of the Government Gateway which simply says my ( basic ) details are incorrect ( they aren’t ). It’s a nightmare. I’ve used the Gg in the past without problem but it now doesn’t recognise me for pension or national insurance or tax issues. Anyone else similarly affected ? I’ve written to my MP in exasperation .