Have you checked your state pension forecast recently?

As you may be aware, changes to the state pension were introduced on 6 April 2016, meaning a man born on or after 6 April 1951 and a woman born on or after 6 April 1953 would need to have at least 10 years of ‘qualifying years’ on their National Insurance record to qualify for the state pension but would need 35 qualifying years to be entitled to the full flat rate state pension.

Qualifying years are made up of years where a person was actively paying National Insurance Contributions or were entitled to a National Insurance Credit.

Below are some examples of when a person is eligible for National Insurance Credits:

• You’re on Maternity Allowance or on Statutory Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Pay
• You’re on Jobseeker’s Allowance and not in education or working 16 hours or more per week
• You’re on Employment and Support Allowance or eligible to claim
• You’re on Carer’s Allowance

A full list of those eligible for National Insurance Credits is available here. Please note that some of the credits apply automatically and others must be applied.

Alternatively, if you don’t qualify for any NIC Credits but you have non-qualifying years on your record and are unlikely to have enough qualifying years before you reach state pension age then it is possible to pay voluntary National Insurance Contributions to fill in the gaps.

As part of the transition to the new State Pension, it is currently possible to fill in any gaps dating back to 6 April 2006 however this is being restricted from 6 April 2023 to only allow gaps in the previous 6 years to be filled.

This is more likely to have an impact on those aged 45+ with gaps in their records as it may restrict any opportunities to fill in any gaps by restricting the number of years this is possible for.

It is recommended that anyone who believes they have gaps in their record between 2006 and now should review their National Insurance record and then a decision can be made if voluntary contributions are needed and right for you.

Your record can be viewed on your Personal Tax Account with HMRC and this will be the quickest way to obtain this information.

If you haven’t already, a personal tax account can be set up using the following link.