Should I buy extra NI years to increase my state pension before the 5 April deadline?

People with holes in their state pension records have just one more month to take advantage of a special offer to buy missing years going as far back as 2006.

As long as you get your payment in by 5 April you can still benefit from the deal, but after that you will only be able to fill gaps from the past six years.

Most people can use the Government’s online state pension service to check if it is worth buying missing years and to make payments, or you can use the HMRC app.

It is then a matter of waiting for the Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC – which run the top-ups system between them – to process the payment and update your record.

But some people are not allowed to use the online tool, including people already over state pension age, those self-employed in any of the years they are trying to pay for, and those who lived abroad in the years they want to fill up now (other excepted groups are listed here).

In that case, you should act immediately if you think filling gaps will improve your state pension, as This is Money readers report delays finding out the information they need when calling busy government helplines.

You will have to contact the DWP’s Future Pension Centre if you are under 66, or its Pensions Service if you are already receiving a state pension, for individual help. After that, payments must be made to HMRC.

DWP and HMRC say they are prioritising resources as needed to manage spikes in demand, to support customers applying to make voluntary National Insurance contributions ahead of the deadline.

Filling state pension gaps: Until 5 April you can still buy missing years stretching back to 2006/2007

Is it worth buying state pension top-ups?

Buying top-ups can give a generous boost to retirement income if you buy the correct years on your record.

This is Money’s full guide to buying state pension top-ups explains the cost and includes six golden rules for deciding if you should fill gaps by Steve Webb, our retirement columnist.

Factors to bear in mind include whether you might owed free NI credits anyway, and whether any state pension boost will affect your benefits – so it’s well worth checking Webb’s advice before you buy.

One year of voluntary National Insurance contributions costs £824.20 at the 2022-2023 ‘Class 3’ rate. 

The 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 rate is £907.40. The Government-backed MoneyHelper website has more information on what state pension top-ups cost for different years.

It can cost less if you are only filling in a part year.

Self-employed people pay different rates of NI contributions, and the system for them was overhauled last April.

Steve Webb has more details on how self-employed people can build a state pension record.

So is it good value? The headline full new state pension rate is currently £221.20 a week, and it will rise to £230.25 from next month.

You typically need 35 qualifying NI years to get the full amount, so every extra year you manage to fill will boost your state pension entitlement by 1/35th.

At the current rate, that will get you an extra £6.32 a week, or around £329 a year, or nearly £6,600 over a 20-year retirement (not taking into account tax).

What else do you need to know?

HMRC is responsible for maintaining National Insurance records, which you must check for gaps in your state pension records, and processing top-up payments. 

The DWP is in charge of revising state pension forecasts or payments after purchases.

It is worth knowing which department does what, so you know who to contact if necessary during the process, or later if anything goes wrong.

Savers buying state pension top-ups are reporting long wait times to find out information and for payments to be processed ahead of the 5 April deadline. 

If you get your payment in by that date, the Government promises you will benefit from the current deal.

However, we continue to hear from readers whose top-ups cash disappeared into the system in previous years, and get little or no help from staff in sorting out problems. We are going to publish another story about this shortly.

If you have paid and heard nothing more, write and tell us your story at [email protected].

Unfortunately we can’t help everyone so you can also contact your MP. If you are an expat, you can contact the MP in the last constituency you lived in and still request help. Find your MP here.