Six months left to give your state pension an extra boost – should you buy national insurance credits?

There are just six months left to claim extra national insurance (NI) credits beyond six years that could boost your state pension.

Buying extra national insurance credits is a great way to fill any gaps in contributions and add to your state pension entitlement.

While under normal rules you can usually only fill gaps in NI contributions for the past six years, under a special concession, the government has let people claim back to between April 2006/2007 and April 2018 provided they made contributions.

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This allowance was meant to end in April 2023 but the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) struggled to cope with demand and its phone lines became jammed so the deadline was extended to July 2023 and then again to 5 April 2025.

HMRC also last year launched a digital service to let people buy extra NI credits, saving them the hassle of waiting on hold when phoning the DWP.

The taxman says more than 10,000 payments worth £12.5 million have been made through the new digital service since its launch last year, while 3.7 million people have used the online checking tool on GOV.UK to view their state pension forecast.

Around half of online users topped up one year of their NI record, HMRC says, with an average online payment of £1,193.

The largest weekly state pension increase by purchasing extra NI credits was £107.44.

Pensions minister Emma Reynolds is now urging people to make sure they don’t miss the deadline.

She says: “We want pensioners of today and tomorrow to enjoy the dignity and support they deserve in retirement.

“That’s why I urge everyone to check if they could benefit by filling gaps before the deadline passes.”

Should you buy extra NI credits for your state pension?

You need a minimum of 35 years of NI contributions to get the full state pension payment.

That can be tricky if you have taken time off to care for children or elderly relatives or if you have taken a career break.

Purchasing NI credits can help boost how much state pension you will get and the government has recently been letting people claim back to 2006/2007 instead of going back six years.

You will only be allowed to claim back for six years of NI credit from 5 April so it may be worth filling any extra gaps in your record now.

Those wishing to pay for previous years are currently charged £15.85 per week or £824.20 to fill a full historic gap year. 

This will typically add 1/35 of the full state pension rate or just over £300 per year.

Someone with 10 years to make up could pay just over £8,000 to receive an estimated additional £55,000 in pension income over a 20-year retirement, according to calculations by Quilter.

“For individuals with multiple gaps in their NI records, the potential long-term benefits are significant,”  says Kirsty Anderson retirement specialist at Quilter.

“Even topping up a single year would be recouped within a few years of retirement.”

However, topping up is not going to work for everyone.   

Alice Haine, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest, says plugging gaps can be quite an expensive process, so it is important to assess whether you actually need to buy back any missing years.

“This will depend on how many more years you plan to work and whether you are eligible for NI tax credits which fill the gaps, such as those who have been sick, were unemployed or took time out to raise a family or care for elderly relations,” she says.

How to top up your state pension

Before April 2023, the only way to purchase extra NI credits was by calling the Future Pension Centre at the DWP to find out about filling gaps and then phone HMRC to get a ‘code’ to make sure their payment is correctly allocated. 

Much of this can now be done online though.

You can use HMRC’s state pension forecast tool to see how much you are due based on your age and if there are any NI gaps you can fill.

This can be done through your personal tax account online or on the HMRC app, where you can take a survey to assess your suitability to pay online.

Haine adds: “Calculating whether to top up can be confusing though and ultimately there is no point paying for more years than you need because you won’t get that money back.

"This is why for some people, calling the government’s Future Pension Service to double check how many years they can buy and whether voluntary contributions really will add to their state pension may be key."