September 21, 2023
By Merranti

National Insurance Contributions : What You Need to Know in 2025/26

Extension of NICs top-up period

To qualify for the UK State Retirement Pension, your National Insurance Contributions (NICs) record is crucial.

You normally need:

At least 35 complete qualifying NICs years to receive the full State Retirement Pension, and
A minimum of 10 complete qualifying NICs years to receive any State Retirement Pension at all.

If your NICs record shows gaps, this can directly reduce the amount of State Pension you will receive on retirement. Gaps can arise for a number of reasons, including periods of low earnings, time spent abroad, self-employment with low profits, or career breaks.

Where there is a gap in your NICs record, you can normally make this good by paying voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions. However, under standard rules this is limited to the last six tax years only.

However, there is currently a special dispensation in place. This allows:

Women born after 5 April 1953, and
Men born after 5 April 1951

You can make up gaps in their NICs records all the way back to 6 April 2006. Therefore, you are not restricted to the usual six-year limit.

Importantly, these voluntary contributions can be paid at the 2022/23 Class 3 NIC rate of £15.85 per week, instead of the current higher rate of £17.45 per week, making this a particularly cost-effective opportunity to improve your State Pension entitlement.

This extended opportunity to make up historic NICs gaps was originally due to close earlier. However, it has been extended and will now close on 5 April 2025. After this date, the ability to top up older years is expected to revert to the normal six-year rule. Consequently, this change may remove the chance to fill valuable qualifying years permanently.

It is also worth noting that in some circumstances you may already have been credited with NICs, even if you did not pay them directly. For example, if you were claiming Child Benefit for young children while earning below NIC thresholds, you should normally have received NIC credits automatically. These credits count towards your qualifying years. As a result, they should appear on your NICs record.

Call to action – NICs top-up window

This is a time-limited opportunity to review your National Insurance record. Where appropriate, you can secure additional qualifying years at a reduced historic cost. With the extended NICs top-up window closing on 5 April 2025, anyone with gaps in their record should act well before this deadline. Therefore, you should assess whether paying voluntary Class 3 NICs could significantly increase your future State Pension entitlement.

If you delay beyond this date, you may lose the ability to fill older gaps altogether. As a result, this could potentially result in a permanently reduced pension.