Increasing your state pension

Paying voluntary NI

It’s important to keep track of your National Insurance (NI) contributions in order to receive the state pension you’re entitled to. You can usually pay voluntary NI contributions for up to the past six years – or possibly longer, depending on your age – to make up for any gaps.  For example, you have until 5 April 2024 to make up for gaps for the tax year 2017 to 2018*.

The state pension is currently covered by the “triple-lock,” meaning it will increase each year by the greater of price inflation, earnings growth or 2.5%, a key part of why the state pension can be very valuable. If you receive the additional amount for a minimum of three years, you could have already covered the cost. However, if backdating isn’t sufficient to bring you up to a full NI record, you can additional voluntary contributions, which are currently £907.40 per year (Class 3 for the 2023/34 tax year)*, in future years to top it up.

Once you have the relevant information, it’s fairly straightforward to calculate how much extra pension income you will receive each year and what the cost is to achieve that, to determine whether it’s a good investment or not.

How to check your entitlement

You can check your entitlement and request a full NI history by sending a completed form or letter or accessing your details online.  The NI history will show you exactly which years you can pay, the cost, and the deadline for payment.

To obtain your current State Pension statement you can fill in HMRC form “BR19*”.  Simply fill in the form, sign and send it to the address on the form. 

Alternatively , you can write to “NIC and EO, HIM Revenue and Customs, BX9 1AN” requesting a full NI history.

If you have a log in for the Government gateway (i.e. if you do on line tax returns) then you can obtain this information on line in your online tax account.

Your State Pension statement will show you your current state pension estimate based on your current NI record and also the estimate assuming you contribute until state pension age.  It will help identify if you have any gaps in your payment history, (e.g. if you are non-earning spouse).

Impact of Divorce on State Pension

Previously, if a couple went through a divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership, they would still be able to get a full state pension if their former spouse had a full NI history, as they could substitute theirs for their partners.  However, as of 6th April 2016, an individual’s state pension will solely be based on their own NI history and it will no longer be possible to substitute a former spouse’s NI history.  This will be a major in particular for non-working spouses, who in the main are female.

Many divorce settlements from before April 2016 will have assumed the non-earning spouse would substitute their own NI record for their former spouse and so get a full state pension. However, as mentioned above, if the spouse has a state pension age after April 2016, this will no longer be the case.

For each year less than 35 qualifying years that you haven’t paid NI, you lose 1/35 of the weekly pension, which is currently £203.85 (2023/24 tax year)*. 

Final Thoughts