NI Contributions goal posts change?

Hi My Wife was looking to retire.. At 56 we checked how many years she had contributed on the government site meaning she would have paid enough contributions by 60 to qualify. Just checked at 58 and apparently she still has 4 years to pay, how can this be? 1. How can people plan with moving goal posts? 2. Why has this changed and can you get old copies of the Ni contributions from the past? Just to check we haven't miscalculated. Thanks in advance

Hi sadey,

The New State Pension was introduced on 6 April 2016 and the number of qualifying years rose from 30 to 35.

The other main difference is that contracted out D rate of National Insurance contributionss (NICs) was also abolished and were no longer treated as like for like as A rate deducted NICs.
This may be the reason to why more qualifying years are required. You may wish to contact the DWP for a pension forecast, you can do this on line here:

Check your State Pension forecast

Thank you.