National Insurance contributions: April deadline for top-up payments

Usually, National Insurance contributions are paid by employed and self-employed workers as a percentage of earnings. Qualifying individuals can also receive credits, such as unemployed jobseekers, carers, people on sick pay and anyone receiving maternity, paternity or adoption pay. 

Who pays National Insurance?

It is mandatory for anyone over the age of 16 to pay National Insurance if they are earning more than £242 a week or are self-employed and making a profit of more than £11,908 a year. There are certain circumstances when you do not pay National Insurance, but still qualify for certain benefits and the state pension. These include being an employee and earning between £123 and £242 a week, and being self-employed with profits between £6,725 and £11,908 a year.

The amount you pay is recorded and your history of National Insurance contributions, or credits, will determine your entitlement to a state pension. This can also affect access to other government support, including employment and support allowance.

How many National Insurance contributions do I need?

Anyone who reaches retirement age after 6 April 2016 will qualify for the maximum state pension provided they have 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions. Different rules will apply for anyone with an earlier retirement date.

To receive a part-payment state pension, you will need to have paid contributions for a minimum of 10 years. If you have not made enough contributions, you might not be able to claim a full or reduced state pension.

Can I top up my contributions?

If you are worried that you do not have enough National Insurance contributions, you can protect your access to the state pension and other benefits by making voluntary top-up payments.

Before making any additional contributions, we recommend that you seek professional financial advice. This will help you assess whether you need to make further payments before you reach the state retirement age, and can inform you about upcoming rule changes.

In the past, people have only been able to pay voluntary contributions to cover the previous six tax years. However, the government has opened an extension window which allows you to plug any gaps in your National Insurance contributions from as far back as 6 April 2006. Once this deadline expires, the maximum period for voluntary contributions will return to six years.

In effect, this means that in the next tax year (2023/24), you will only be allowed to submit National Insurance contributions dating back to 2017/18.

We urge everyone to double check their National Insurance record and plug any gaps in their payment history. This also means any contributions made through PAYE, self-assessment and credits. If you think there are any errors, you need to contact HMRC as soon as possible.

To check your National Insurance record, please click here. 

Please note: You will need a Government Gateway user ID and password to check your National Insurance record. If you do not have a user ID, you can create one before you check your record.

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