Hi All,
This is really important as you can only top up back to 2016 until April 2025.
After that you can only top up back 3 years!
Listen and get in touch if you need help!
If you have a gov gateway account use the link and “start now” button. If you haven’t got an account try and set one up. If you can’t then it’s via the form.
I believe it’s worth doing for most people, as the extra pension they will get outweighs the immediate cost of topping up contributions.
I was fortunate to manage to get the necessary 35 years contributions in the system to qualify for the full State Pension without needing to top up, despite spending 7 years in Turks & Caicos when I wasn’t paying UK NI.
But I was keeping an eye on it in the run up to claiming my State Pension (via the .GOV website) just to make sure, as there were a couple of recent years where the system said it “didn’t have enough information”, due to me being self-employed and needing to file a tax return.
I topped up about 6 years IRR just before claiming. It was well worth it!
Yes the return of investment for class 3 contributions is about 2 years so well worth it for the majority
Thanks for the reminder. It’s one of those things I really should do, but there’s always something else to spend the money on which inevitably takes priority.
Just checked online and it tells me to get the full whack I will need to contribute another 11 years before 5 April 2041. This would give me an extra £70 per week in my pension apparently. But I don’t know how much it’ll cost me to do so, so I shall definitely take a listen to the podcast to see if it’s answered.
Ok… you don’t need to catch back just pay forward as you need 11 years and you’ve got time to do that. If you follow the link in my last post they will send you the report in the post and from that you can set up a direct debit to pay monthly. It will cost you £70 a month to do that if you qualify for class 3 but if you qualify for class 2 it will be about £20 a month.
Cheers, Dave. Much appreciated.
Still listen though! We need the numbers 
Just caught up with it - you also answered the next question I had about the difference between Cat 1 & Cat 2 
moneysavingexpert dot com has been running a campaign on this for some time and there’s a lot of detail on there.
Ohhhh share if you have the link! Everything helps! Not sure it’s made its way over to France
My wife wants to top up her pension but despite asking twice, once in writing, we’ve had no reponse, so we still don’t know how much each year’s top up will cost.
It will say on her Government Gateway account unless she’s able to pay Class 2 contributions in which case she’ll have to get this confirmed in writing.
Response in writing is 53 weeks at the moment and you have to send a CF83 form or click the link in post and apply now via the online account if you have one or can set one up
Hi Dave,
Does the application form need to be accepted before the April deadline or does the payment need to be made before the April deadline, ie is the online application the only way to hit that deadline?
The site states you have to pay before April 2025. That means you have to have already applied via post about 9 months ago. Or complete the online application ASAP… you’ll still be able to catch back 6 years but before that will be lost.
You have until 5 April 2025 to pay voluntary contributions to make up for gaps between tax years April 2006 and April 2016 if you’re eligible.
After 5 April 2025 you’ll only be able to pay for voluntary contributions for the past 6 years. This may not be enough to qualify for a new State Pension if you have fewer than 4 qualifying years on your National Insurance record. You’ll usually need at least 10 qualifying years in total.