Date posted: 9th Feb 2023
At the moment, you need to have 35 years’ worth of national insurance credits to obtain a full state pension.
The 35 years can be made up of national insurance being paid (voluntarily or via the tax system) or credits for receiving state benefits (such as child benefit). However, we would urge you to check your position as it may be that there are gaps in your national insurance record but there should not be, as you may have worked but your employer did not send the appropriate information to HMRC.
The government offer a service to check your record. You can do this via your online personal tax account. Alternatively, you can apply for a state pension forecast by completing form BR19.
Your National Insurance record will give you an overview of:
- The qualifying years.
- Any gaps in your record.
- Whether you can pay voluntary contributions to fill any gaps and the associated cost.
As ever, we are here to help you through the process – we can even make the application for you, if you do not feel comfortable doing so. Contact us here.
