The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HMRC were just not able to cope, so they changed the deadline to 5th April 2025. Thanks to the 2016 changes to the State Pension, we were given until April 2023 to fill gaps in our National Insurance records from 2006 – 2016.
Personally, I had a five-week gap in my record that was to cost me just £80 to fill.
Until now, paying Voluntary (Class 3) National Insurance contributions has required waiting on the telephone to speak to someone who can talk you through whether it would actually be beneficial. You would obtain a code from the DWP and then call HMRC with that code to make the actual payment.
I never took the time to do any of this.
However, since 29th April 2024, we have been able to apply online (https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension) – so I did. I logged into my Personal Tax Account on the Government Gateway. I found the link through the National Insurance section, went through a few questions about when I was likely to stop working or leave the country, and then paid the £80 through a request from HMRC to my bank.
A week later, I had a year added to my National Insurance record and I found it all very straight forward.
Now, this might be a terrible investment. If I have my calculations wrong, it could be £80 that will give me no extra State Pension at all. Or it could be the best investment I’ve ever made – giving me an extra £328 a year index-linked income for life from my State Pension Age.
I found the questions asked by the online service to be really useful but, naturally, the answers depended on my financial plan.
We can help you to relate your State Pension with your financial plan. If you would like us to check this, please log on and obtain a copy of your State Pension Forecast and National Insurance record and send this to your Financial Planner. We will look into this and help you decide whether the contribution would be right for you.
