National insurance contributions

[Thingsthatgo]

I know that this has been discussed many many times, so please forgive me! I just have a question.... I have 20 more years until retirement age, and 11 more years to contribute. I am missing 7 years of contributions, two of which are since 2006 and I could pay them now.
Is it a good idea to do so even if my intention is to continue working?

Best look at this: www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/

Thank you. I'll have a read.

I would.

I wouldn’t pay them until I was running out of time, no. It could be a waste of money you can’t get back

I think you are definitely in need of a call with the Future Pension Centre, the difficulty is that they are extraordinarily difficult to get hold of at this time of year, and it will only get worse in the run-up to the deadline.

However, my feeling is with 20 years in which to make 11 years' worth of contributions, I don't think you need to buy previous years. If it wasn't so unbelievably difficult to do (something Money Saving Expert doesn't mention) I would do it just to hedge your bets and take a bit of pressure off having to contribute for 11 more years.

In summary - call the Future Pension Centre but be prepared to spend a great deal of time redialling the number (there's no queue, so if you don't get through the call just drops).

They are changing the rules on how far back you can go to pay for missed years so yeah waiting isn't really an option.

If you only need a few weeks to make a full year then yes I would. Otherwise you don't need as you have lots of time left and you can always make up future years if you need them. Caveat that this assumes the total number of years required for a full state pension doesn't increase in future.

Just to clarify, I wouldn't buy all 7 missing years, that feels like overkill. I'd maybe buy a couple (in which case you don't need to worry about the April deadline, unless you have earlier part-years as @MothBat says). BUT only the FPC can really advise on the ins and outs of your particular circumstance.

I've just checked mine (mainly missing due to study though a couple of years I was overseas) and I'm way too late to catch up.

I've got a few years where I was paying national insurance in another country and it was meant to be reciprocated (I think) but it's way too late to do anything about it now, shame the NI record wasn't online years ago so I could have verified this at the time.

The problem with waiting is the cost goes up.
However as pp said the Future Pensions Centre can give specific advice.