Topping up your state pension – 31st July Deadline

Topping up your state pension – on missing gaps

Are you a man born after 6^th April 1951 or a woman born after 6^th April 1953?

If so and, if you have any gaps in your National Insurance record you have a special opportunity to top up contributions back to April 2006 onwards.

For a full state pension, you need 35 years of contributions. You may have a gap for any of the following reasons:

• Your income has been by way of dividends with any salary under the lower earnings limit.
• You were self-employed but exempted paying contributions because of low profits.
• You were employed but had low earnings.
• You were living or working abroad.
• You took a career break.
• You were unemployed but did not claim benefits.

You can check for gaps in you NI record here:

HMRC services: sign in or register: Sign in to HMRC online services – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

You will need a Government Gateway user ID and password. If you find that you do have gaps, you need to way up the cost and benefit from filling those gaps.

This opportunity ends on 05 April 2025.