Class 3 Vol NI Query for the Year in which you reach State Pension age

With an impending New State Pension age of 5.3.24 (age 66) this is right near the end of the current financial year (2023/24) in which no employment NI will be made. There was a shortfall in projected State Pension due to earlier contracting out, the shortfall is now much reduced by buying blank NI years via Class 3 Voluntary NI contributions since April 2016 for the years 2016/17 to 2022/23. However there seems to be a lack of definitive advice on whether 2023/24 could be bought as another Class 3 Voluntary year. One source (not an HMRC one) says “The tax year in which you reach State Pension age can’t be used as a qualifying year for your State Pension”. If correct I cannot see anything explaining this properly in the relevant HMRC website areas. Also if so, does this rule out making any attempt to buy back 2023/24 as an NI year and therefore the remaining shortfall is impossible to reduce? Please advise asap

Hi davidBLancs,
I can confirm that you would not get any benefit for paying voluntary class 3 National Insurance contributions for the tax year in which you reach State Pension Age.  
You may wish to check with The Pension Service to see if any further voluntary contributions may be paid for previous years.
If you have not received details about your pension then please contact The Pension Service at your earliest convenience.
Thank you.