Will you get a full state pension?
In order to receive the full state pension on reaching State Pension Age on or after 6 April 2016, you need to have accrued 35 complete years of National Insurance Contributions (NIC). To receive any amount of the 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 3 NIC. This payment generally needs to be made within six years of the gap year, but there are various exceptions that extend the period. Self-employed traders who don’t have to pay Class 2 NIC because their profits are below £6,515 can choose to pay Class 2 voluntarily instead of Class 3; paying Class 2 will be cheaper.
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.
If you have already paid enough NIC to get the full state pension, you may consider taking further amounts from your company in other forms (such as dividends or pension contributions).
