HM Revenue & Customs has extended the deadline for topping up your National Insurance contributions to 5 April 2025, to help increase the amount people receive when they retire.
National Insurance Extension
The deadline has been extended to give taxpayers more time to fill gaps in their National Insurance record between 2006 and 2016, helping to increase the amount received in taxpayers’ state pension. Many members of the public voiced concerns over the previous deadline of 5th April 2023, thus the government has now extended the deadline. What’s more, the cost of paying voluntary NI contributions will remain frozen until 5 April 2025.
To be entitled to the full state pension, you must have 35 years of National Insurance contributions. If you have gaps in your employment history, or think you may not have enough years to qualify for the maximum state pension, you may want to check any gaps as it could massively boost your pension. It is important for those nearing retirement to check and confirm that they qualify.
How to Check & Top-Up
You can check any gaps in your employment by checking your government gateway account or setting one up if you haven’t already.
To top-up, visit the link here to the HM Revenues & Customs website: https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/deadlines
National Insurance Gaps – What To Do
If you have National Insurance gaps, don’t panic. You can go back to April 2006 and top them up – paying voluntary National Insurance contributions allows you to boost your state pension by up to £824 a year. If you do not top up before the cut off date, you’ll only be able to go back to the past 6 years.
National Insurance Help
If you have any queries for your own pension or your employees pensions, please contact us and we can help.