M+A Partners HomeCheck your State Pension

State Pension is available to those who have paid sufficient national insurance (NI) contributions. In general, to qualify for the maximum ‘new state pension’ requires 35 years’ contributions.

Currently, voluntary contributions can be made to fill gaps going back to April 2006, but as from 6 April 2025 this will be curtailed to go back only 6 years.

If you have missing years and your gaps are in the years 2006 to 2018 then you need to take action to fill these by 5 April 2025.

Voluntary national insurance contributions

You may be eligible to receive free NI credits, so check this first. The criteria and how to claim can be found here.

If you have gaps in your NI record and are not eligible for free credits, you may want to consider making voluntary NI contributions. Whether this is worthwhile depends on a number of factors and can be quite complicated.

Full digital service for voluntary NI contributions

An online service has been launched by the government to indicate whether paying voluntary contributions will increase the amount of state pension and to enable secure digital payments.

It is still important to check whether any contributions or credits are missing from the record.

The online service enables you to identify gaps in your NI record and make any payments directly – there is no longer a requirement to phone HMRC to obtain a payment reference.

Following payment through the online service, you will receive confirmation the payment has been made and that your NI record will be updated.

To access the service, you will need your personal tax account sign-in details. The service is not currently available to those who are already receiving their state pension, the self-employed, or people currently living outside the UK with gaps incurred while working abroad.

To check whether you are forecast to receive a full state pension and view your national insurance record click here.

Future Pension Centre

You can also contact the Future Pension Centre for questions about the State Pension or to ask for a forecast.

Telephone: 0800 731 0175

How M+A Partners can help

This is a brief summary, for further information please contact our experts.

Our Experts

Ian Barber
Partner
BIO
Ian trained as a Chartered Accountant in Norfolk, qualifying in 1996. Following 12 years' working in practice, Ian worked within industry as a Financial Controller, before setting up his own accountancy firm in 2005.

After acquiring another practice in Cromer in 2006, Ian joined M+A Partners in 2010, running M+A Partners (North Norfolk) Ltd -  a joint venture, co-owned with M+A Partners.

The joint venture ended in April 2018 when Ian became a Partner in M+A Partners.

Ian has extensive experience as a general practice accountant, dealing with sole traders, partnerships and limited companies - providing accountancy and taxation advice.
EXPERTISE
  • Accounting Services
  • Business Services and Support
  • Business Startups
  • Business Valuation
  • Corporate Taxation
  • Personal Taxation and Private Client
  • VAT
CONTACT
Louise Tipper
Accounts and Tax Senior Manager
BIO

Louise joined the firm in 2010, following the merger of Barber and Co. with M+A Partners. Louise qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 2006 with another local firm of accountants, before joining Barber and Co. in 2007.


Louise is a Senior Manager at the Cromer office, where she deals with a variety of clients providing accountancy, personal and corporate tax services.


EXPERTISE
  • Accounting Services
  • Business Services and Support
  • Business Startups
  • Corporate Taxation
  • Personal Taxation and Private Client
  • VAT
CONTACT
Nicola Barber
Accounts and Tax Manager
BIO
Nicola joined M+A Partners in 2010, when the firm of Barber and Co. was merged into the M+A Partners family. Prior to this she had worked for 4 years with Barber and Co. and 14 years at another local firm of accountants.

Nicola qualified as an Accounting Technician in 1996 and is an Accounts and Tax Manager at our Cromer office, where she oversees a wide variety of clients including payroll, accounts preparation, corporate and personal taxation.

She is currently treasurer of the Friends of Beeston Hall School.
EXPERTISE
  • Accounting Services
  • Business Services and Support
  • Business Startups
  • Business Valuation
  • Corporate Taxation
  • Personal Taxation and Private Client
  • VAT
CONTACT