In summary, individuals need a minimum of 10 ‘qualifying years’ to have any entitlement to the State Pension. After 10 years, the more qualifying years an individual has, the more State Pension they will be entitled to receive. To get the maximum entitlement to the State Pension, individuals need at least 35 qualifying years (note that for any individuals who previously elected to ‘contract-out’, it may be that more than 35 years of contributions are required for the full entitlement)..

A ‘qualifying year’ is one in which an individual was either (broadly):

• Working and made National Insurance Contributions;
• Getting NI credits (for example if you were unemployed, ill or a parent or carer);
• Paying voluntary NICs

It is important to note that a qualifying year will not be awarded on the NI record until that year is paid up in full. Therefore, in some instances, there may be some years which only require a partial payment in order to make it into a full qualifying year, and it is these year that would likely be most beneficial to ‘top up’.

It may be that some individuals have not have benefitted from obtaining a full qualifying year if, for example, they have either:

• Had low income;
• Was non-UK resident during a particular year;
• Took a career break;
• Did not claim credits correctly

Usually, individuals can only ‘buy back’ up to 6 missing qualifying years . however, following the introduction of the ‘New’ State Pension rules on 6 April 2016, there were some transitional rules introduced which enabled taxpayers to consider their position dating back to 2006. While these transitional rules were originally due to end in 2023, HMRC have since extended this deadline to 5 April 2025. This new deadline now therefore enables individuals to fill any potential gaps in their National Insurance Contributions (NIC) record dating back to April 2006.

From 6 April 2025, individuals will then only be able to buy back any missing qualifying years dating back to 2019. Therefore, anyone who is planning for retirement could benefit from the opportunity to buy back any missing gaps in their NIC record and ‘top up’ their entitlement to the State Pension. Leaving this until after 5 April 2025 will prevent individuals from accessing the years between 2006 and 2019 and these years will therefore be lost.

• Individuals can access their NI record quickly online by visiting www.gov.uk and creating/logging in to a Personal Tax Account. Here, it will be possible to check the National Insurance Record and a State Pension forecast and this should then help taxpayers decide whether making voluntary contributions is necessary/beneficial.

Finally, as there have been some concerns over this deadline in respect of a rush of last-minute enquiries, it has recently been reported that for any individuals who have requested a call back from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) on the issue, they will not be regarded as having missed the 5 April deadline if they are still awaiting a response. However, it is recommended that, where possible, action should be taken before 5 April 2025 if appropriate.

If you are considering reviewing your State Pension position then it would be best to do so as soon as possible to ensure that any necessary action can be taken before 5 April 2025.

Of course, please contact a member of our tax team to discuss this further should you have any queries.