Should I top up my National Insurance contributions?

We are often asked by clients if they should ‘top-up’ their National Insurance contributions in order to get a better State pension when they retire.

This is because the amount of State pension that you receive depends upon your National Insurance contribution record.

It used to be the case that to get the full basic State pension a man would need a full contribution record of 44 years and woman would need 39 years of full contributions.

The good news is that, from next year, the number of qualifying years needed for the full basic State pension is just 30 for both men and women.

So the answer to the question becomes pretty straight forward.

If you have or are likely to accrue less than 30 years of full NI contributions you might want to consider topping up your record. You can do this by paying Class 3 voluntary contributions currently charged at £12.05 per week.

If your record is (or is going to be) good enough then you might invest elsewhere to top-up your retirement benefits.

Full details available at www.direct.gov.uk.