State Pension Top Up Overview

Missing NI contributions – Check and top up your state pension whilst you still can – deadline April 2023 *For men born after 5 April 1951 and women born after 5 April 1953. If that’s you, then read on. If you were born before this, then you are on the older system. What’s this all about? The new flat rate of state pension started on the 6th April 2016 and the amount you get depends on how many qualifying years you have. On the old system which consisted of a basic state pension and a top up dependent on things such as SERPs and contracting out, you needed to have 30 qualifying years and the level of pension in some cases was dependent on levels of earnings in the past. On the new system, everyone can get a flat rate of state pension but as a starting point you need to have 35 qualifying years as a minimum. Now for those who started their NI record before 2016, it’s not as simple as some of your record is based on the old system and some on the new system. For anyone in this position, there are transitional arrangements in place. These mean you can pay to ‘plug the gaps’ for any gaps in your record as far back as 2006. However, this arrangement finishes in April 2023 and after that you can only fill gaps within the last 6 years. What can you do and what do you need to know? 1. Check your current record. The first step is to check how much state pension you’ll get based on your current record and how much you will get if you continue to work to state pension age. You can do this on the government’s website, but you’ll need to register for a gateway ID. https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension If you haven’t already got full entitlement or are not on track for the full state pension before you finish work (currently £185.15pw) then you need to check the gaps in your record and there should be a link in your forecast to do so. That will then show you how many years since 2006 are incomplete and it may be worthwhile paying to fill these years to get a higher state pension (see below for things to consider). Remember, post April 2023 you will only be able to go back 6 years so any older years need completing now if you intend to do so. For anyone that was previously ‘contracted out’, it is even more difficult to work out and a call to the Department for work and pensions would be your best option. Most people in a public sector or final salary scheme were contracted out at some point in the past. 2. Make sure you have claimed any free national insurance credits.