seb gevers

I am a Dutch national. Between 1979 and 1998 I lived in the UK (ages 9 to 28). From 1992 to 1998 I worked full-time. I then moved to Ireland from 1998 to 2004 before returning to The Netherlands. From checking my NI records, I have 10 full contributions from 1986 to 1998, with the exception of the years 1989-1990 1990-1991 1991-1992 when I was at college in Aberdeen (where I lived). Note these 10 years are not continuous, but I am guessing that does not matter (right?) After this, I have no more years ("year is not full") as I had left the country and moved to Ireland. I am thinking about paying some additional voluntary contributions to top up my UK pension (which is considerably better than the state pension here in the Netherlands ...) I'd like to do this starting from 2006, the first year I am able to pay voluntary contributions. Now, I am reading about something called 'contracted out' and that paying voluntary contributions won't make my pension go up (significantly, or at all). Is this correct? How does being 'contracted out' affect my existing UK pension that I've built up, and how would it affect my pension if I started paying the voluntary contributions for the last 13 years by April next year. Is it worth it, in my case? Thanks /Seb