When to top up your national insurance to boost your state pension

If your national insurance contributions fall short of getting you a full state pension, you can make voluntary top-up contributions.

Should you top up your national insurance to boost your state pension? Reforms to state pensions mean anyone retiring after 5 April 2016 must have at least ten years' national insurance contributions to claim one, while you need 35 years to get the full amount of £8,767 a year.

However, if your national insurance record falls short, you can make voluntary top-up contributions, typically for up to six years after periods in which you didn't pay in full.

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David Prosser
Business Columnist

David Prosser is a regular MoneyWeek columnist, writing on small business and entrepreneurship, as well as pensions and other forms of tax-efficient savings and investments. David has been a financial journalist for almost 30 years, specialising initially in personal finance, and then in broader business coverage. He has worked for national newspaper groups including The Financial Times, The Guardian and Observer, Express Newspapers and, most recently, The Independent, where he served for more than three years as business editor.