Pension

‘If I was ‘‘contracted out’’ of the extra state pension, can I top up my contributions now?’


You said you started work in 1988, which means you might already have worked for 35 qualifying years – the number needed for you to have your full state pension entitlement, which in your case would be minus any amount missing from being contracted out. If you already have a full National Insurance record, with no missing years, you won’t need to make voluntary contributions.

If there are any gaps in your record, perhaps because you earned less than the “lower earnings limit” for a time, you might be able to buy these missing years, depending on when they were.

The Government set a deadline to allow people with missing years going back to 2006 to make contributions for those years and has extended it to 2025.

Check your National Insurance record. This will tell you if you have any missing years in the period for which you are allowed to make voluntary contributions, and whether you would be able to boost your state pension for these years if needed.

As you have 10 years left until you reach state pension age, you could alternatively work more years to get up to the 35 needed, if you are short of years, rather than having to make voluntary contributions.


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