JennyG

Hi, I currently receive child benefit and my youngest child is 7 so I believe I have another 5 years of having my NI contributions automatically credited for the year. I have been self employed since October '21 and I am currently completing a self assessment. I am under the threshold for tax and I'm wondering if it is worth my paying voluntary contributions too, or will they not really count toward anything given they are automatically applied? I have 26 years of full and 5 years of gaps in my history (pre children). However, only 1 of those gaps is giving an amount to pay in order to fill it. The others say they're being reviewed, but they've been saying this for several years and I've not been able to get a definitive answer on whether I need to pay, nor how much. Can someone please advise. Many thanks.