The amount of State Pension you, your family, and your employees will receive in the future is directly linked to the National Insurance Contributions (NICs) made throughout their working lives.
The amount of State Pension you, your family, and your employees will receive in the future is directly linked to the National Insurance Contributions (NICs) made throughout their working lives.
If someone hasn’t built up enough contributions to qualify for the full State Pension, there’s still an opportunity to boost their entitlement. The government allows individuals to ‘top up’ missing contributions, helping them secure a higher pension.
This can be a cost-effective way to enhance retirement income, but time is running out. Until 5 April 2025, individuals can backfill gaps in their National Insurance record as far back as 6 April 2006. After this deadline, they will only be able to cover gaps from the previous six tax years.
To check if you have missing contributions and whether topping up would increase your State Pension, you can use HMRC’s online service or app. These tools allow you to:
✅ Identify any gaps in your National Insurance record
✅ Find out if voluntary contributions would boost your State Pension
✅ Make payments to fill in those gaps
Act before the deadline! If you choose to pay via bank transfer, it can take up to five working days for the payment to reflect in your record—so don’t leave it too late.
Encourage your family, employees, and anyone nearing retirement to review their NI record and take action now to secure their future pension.
