Currently, you can fill gaps in your National Insurance record by making top up payments as far back as April 2006. But from April 6, 2025, you can only make voluntary contributions for gaps dating back 6 years. Having gaps in your National Insurance record could mean you don't qualify for the full state pension.
To initiate the process, however, you may need to speak to the DWP to discuss your situation and then obtain a reference code via the HMRC to make the payment. As the deadline to make top-up payments approaches, DWP call lines are experiencing high volumes of calls, resulting in long waiting times, which can make it difficult to get through.
To ensure that nobody misses out if they're unable to get through to the call centre, the DWP has created a call-back form where customers can request a call back about making voluntary contributions. If you request a call back by the April 5, 2025 deadline, you will be able to make voluntary National Insurance contributions, even after the deadline has passed.
How to qualify for the extended deadline via a call-back request
To qualify for the extended deadline (if you can't get through to the DWP), you should:
- Fill out the official form on the government website by April 5, 2025
- Take a screenshot of the confirmation message and save it for your reference
- Await a call to discuss payment of voluntary NI contributions within 8 weeks
You only need to complete the form once to qualify. As long as you've filled out the form by the deadline, you'll be able to make further contributions after the deadline, if necessary.
Should you make voluntary National Insurance contributions?
You'll typically need at least 10 years of National Insurance contributions to get some form of state pension, and you'll likely need 35 qualifying years to get the full New State Pension. You can check your state pension forecast online in just a few minutes. If it looks like you won't qualify for the full state pension, you can also check your National Insurance record online to see what years you're missing and whether it makes sense to pay to fill those gaps.
Before you make voluntary National Insurance contributions, you should contact the Future Pension Centre to discuss whether making additional payments makes sense if you're below the state pension age. If you're above the state pension age, you should contact the Pension Service instead.
These payments are non-refundable, so speaking to the DWP means you won't accidentally pay extra where you don't need to. If this topic is of interest, we'd recommend reading about filling gaps in your National Insurance record to boost your State Pension to find out more.
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