Do I need to pay the gaps in my national insurance contribution record

I have 41 years full paid contributions however my pension forecast states “to get the full state pension I should pay another 4 years”. Pension date is Dec 2030. I don’t understand because I thought 35 years was fully paid up. I do have 3 incomplete years that I can pay up but would it be worth doing it or would I just be throwing money away because it will make no difference to the pension payments? I currently receive 2 small pensions and am now a tax payer.

Hi,
If you apply for a State Pension Forecast via Check your State Pension forecast, it will provide you with details of your current and future entitlement to a
State Pension Forecast and you can then decide whether you wish to pay any shortfalls of voluntary National Insurance contributions.
Thank you.

Hi Thanks for your response but it doesn’t answer my question. I’ve already seen the forcast that you mention, that is how I know it says to pay another 4 year contributions. Will my pension definitely be reduced if I don’t pay the 4 years?

Hi,
Your State Pension Forecast should advise you of your current entitlement to a UK State Pension.  
If you don’t have a full entitlement then it should detail how many more tax years that you will need to get the full entitlement.  
If you wish to discuss your State Pension entitlement then you may wish to call Future Pension Centre Helpline on 0800 7310175 (from the UK)
or +44 191 2183600 (from overseas) and they will be able to help you.
Thank you.

Hello I need to pay the gaps in my PENSION FOR 7 years, before the deadline on April 2025. I called PENSION center and HMRC but I don't get any help because the never answer to my call, and I try to pay online but unfortunately thas not working. Please I NEED help Thanks

Hi Adel,
If you are in the UK and have spoken to the Future Pension Centre and are ready to make a payment of voluntary National Insurance contributions then you may call our National Insurance Helpline and they will be able to provide you with a 18 Digit Reference Number to use with any bank transfer.  You may, however, pay online and full details can be found via:  Pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance
If you are overseas then you should complete and return our CF83 application form before 5 April 2025.  Before completing the CF83 application form please first read leaflet NI38 ‘Social Security Abroad’.  The NI38 and CF83 may be found via:  Social Security abroad: NI38.
Thank you.
 

Hi. Born 1963 and have 41 continuous full year contributions until 2019 yet my forecast says I need to pay for 2 more years. Why would this be based on the year of birth and the 41 full year contributions? Thanks

Hi, my Pension Summary shows full entitlement, currently £221.20 at age 68 (2035), but my NI record shows a gap in 2013. Would paying the additional voluntary contribution make any difference given that I have over 35 years of qualifying contributions?

Hi born 1956 straight to work at 17 and have worked all my life. Have 45 years plus NI contributions. Retired in 2023. Do not get full pension have been told somewhere along the way was contracted out to SERPS. I do have 2 workplace pensions. I realise you need 35 years NI contributions for full pension but even if I was contracted out for a couple of years surely I would still have enough NI contributions that I paid into to cover this period? I understand the couple of years I was contracted out were added to my workplace pensions but still don’t understand what happened to the other years that I also contributed! Thanks 😊

Not HMRC...Kevin...because some of those years you may have been "contracted out" whereby if payments were made to an employers pension the Class 1 contributions will have been at a reduced rate...talk to NI

Hi Mark Baptist,
It is possible you may need more than 35 qualifying years to achieve a full state pension.
 would advise you to contact the Future Pension Centre (FPC) on 0800 731 0175 who will be able to advise whether paying voluntary Class 3 NICs is beneficial. 
Please note the deadline for paying Class 3 NICs for the 2013-14 tax year is 5 April 2025.
If FPC advise it is beneficial and you would like to pay you can contact the National Insurance (NI) helpline on 0300 200 3500 who will advise you how to pay.
At the moment the NI helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls so you may prefer to write to us with the details of your enquiry to: -
National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AN
 

I have 45 years of full NI contributions (details obtained from the pension forecast pages). I ceased employment at age 63. I will be 66 in Oct 2025 and will then claim my State Pension. The pension forecast indicates that I need to pay £750 for gaps in 2023/24 and 2024.25 (when I took my workplace pension). Why do I need to pay NI for these 2 years when I already have paid in full 45 years of NI? It would appear to me that I have already paid 10 years over and above the stated 35 years NI to receive a full state pension.

Hi,
HMRC cannot confirm how many years of NICs need to be paid in order to qualify for a full state pension.  
Most people need a minimum of 25 fully paid years to qualify for a full pension but depending on individual circumstances, many customers need considerably more than 35 years, mainly those who have been part of a contracted out pension scheme.
If you are unable to ascertain your pension situation from your personal tax account, you will need to speak to the DWP.
Thank you.

Thank you for your reply - can you advise which phone number I should call as I tried the general helpline and hung on for 61 minutes without getting through to anyone (0300 200 3300) and then I tried the Future Pensions Centre on 0800 731 0175 which I spent another 50 minutes waiting for without success. As you can appreciate I am getting somewhat exasperated in trying to get this answered so help speaking to someone would be greatly appreciated. Best regards, 

Name removed admin .

Hi ker40 donn,
If you can not get in touch with the National Insurance helpline or the Future Pension Centre, you can complete a call back request form on the gov.uk 
You can complete this form if you're struggling to contact the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by phone to pay voluntary National Insurance Contributions.
DWP will contact you on the phone number you provide in this form to discuss payment of voluntary National Insurance contributions.
If you submit a request by the 5 April 2025 deadline, you will still be able to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions after the deadline has passed.
If you have already requested a call back, please do not send another request.
You can fill in the form following this link
Request a call back to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions
You can also contact an adviser through our webchat service ‘ask HMRC online’ following this link
Ask HMRC online
Thank you.