Max out your state pension

Individuals who reach State Pension Age (SPA) on or after 6 April 2016 need to have accrued 35 complete years of National Insurance Contributions (NIC) to receive the full state pension. To receive any UK state retirement pension, you need at least ten complete NIC years.

You can check how much state pension you are due to receive through your personal tax account on gov.uk. We can help you with this.

It is possible to plug gaps in your NIC record by paying voluntary Class 2 or Class 3 NIC. This payment generally needs to be made within six years of the gap year, but there are a number of exceptions which extend that period.
You may also qualify for NI credits for some years if you were claiming state benefits, Child Benefit or were a foster carer. The NI credits were not always applied automatically, so it’s worth checking your own NIC record.