Checking your NI record for State Pension

Your new State Pension depends on how many qualifying years are on your National Insurance record. You need at least 10 to get any new State Pension and, if your record started after April 2016, 35 for the full rate of £241.30 a week in 2026 to 2027. If you have years from before 2016, a starting amount was worked out at that date and each later qualifying year adds about £6.89 a week until you reach the full rate, so the forecast, not a simple count of years, is what tells you where you stand.

Who does the new State Pension apply to?

GOV.UK says you can claim the new State Pension if you are a man born on or after 6 April 1951 or a woman born on or after 6 April 1953. Anyone born earlier is under the old system of basic State Pension and Additional State Pension, which this page does not cover. The new State Pension is not paid automatically: you have to claim it when you reach State Pension age.

What turns a tax year into a qualifying year?

Section 2(4) of the Pensions Act 2014 defines a qualifying year as a tax year in your working life in which your earnings factor reaches the qualifying earnings factor. Section 122 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 sets that at the lower earnings limit multiplied by 52. For 2026 to 2027 the lower earnings limit is £129 a week, or £6,708 a year.

The DWP guide Your State Pension explained lists the ways a year can be built up in 2026 to 2027:

• employed and earning over £242 a week from one employer and paying National Insurance
• employed and earning between £129 and £242 a week from one employer, where contributions are treated as paid even though nothing is deducted
• self employed and paying Class 2 contributions, £3.65 a week
• paying voluntary contributions, £18.40 a week
• receiving National Insurance credits, for example as a carer, a parent registered for Child Benefit for a child under 12, or while on certain benefits

Note the words from one employer. Two small jobs that are each below the lower earnings limit do not normally make a qualifying year between them, which is one of the most common reasons part time workers find gaps.

How many qualifying years do you need?

Section 2(1) of the Pensions Act 2014 gives a full rate pension to someone who has reached pensionable age with 35 or more qualifying years. Section 2(2) gives a reduced rate to someone with at least the minimum number but fewer than 35, and section 2(3) says the minimum is set by regulations and may not be more than 10. GOV.UK confirms you need 10 qualifying years to get any new State Pension, and that they do not have to be consecutive.

Most people approaching State Pension age now have years from before April 2016, so they fall under section 4, the transitional rate, which applies where someone has at least one pre commencement qualifying year. That is where the starting amount comes in.

How does the starting amount work for records that began before 2016?

If you had qualifying years at 5 April 2016, DWP worked out a starting amount equal to the higher of two figures: what you would have got under the old rules up to that date, or what you would have got on your record to that date if the new State Pension had applied throughout your working life. Both figures reflect any time you were contracted out of the Additional State Pension.

• Starting amount below the full rate: each qualifying year added after 5 April 2016 adds a 35th of the full rate, about £6.89 a week, until you reach the full rate or State Pension age.
• Starting amount above the full rate: you keep the higher amount, and the excess is paid as a protected payment, which rises each year in line with CPI.

Contracting out explains why many people with 35 or more years still see less than the full rate. GOV.UK says contracted out people will usually need more than 35 qualifying years. Contracted out years still count as qualifying years and are not gaps. To check whether you were contracted out, look at payslips from before 6 April 2016 for the category letters D, E, L, N or O. Those letters now have different meanings in payroll, as our guide to National Insurance category letters explains, so read old payslips by the date on them.

How do you read your National Insurance record?

The online service shows what you have paid up to the start of the current tax year (6 April 2026), any credits you have received, and which years are not qualifying years because of gaps. It also shows whether you would benefit from paying voluntary contributions, how your forecast would change if you did, and how much each gap would cost.

Read it alongside the State Pension forecast, which shows how much you could get, when, and whether and how you could increase it. Points that catch people out:

• The current tax year is never shown, and printed statements cannot be requested for the current or previous tax year.
• The forecast cannot be used once you are already getting, or have deferred, your State Pension. The Pension Service handles those cases.
• If you will reach State Pension age in more than 30 days you can also ask for a forecast on form BR19 or through the Future Pension Centre.
• Isle of Man contributions do not appear if you reach State Pension age after 5 April 2016; you contact the Isle of Man office separately.

What does a typical calculation look like?

Illustration only. Alex’s starting amount at April 2016 was £180 a week, below the full rate of £241.30. The shortfall is £61.30. At about £6.89 for each qualifying year after 5 April 2016, Alex needs nine more qualifying years to reach the full rate (eight would leave a small shortfall). If Alex has worked every year from 2016 to 2017 to 2025 to 2026, those ten years already fill the gap and any further years, paid or voluntary, add nothing. If some of those years were gaps, the forecast will show exactly how many more are needed and whether there is time to earn them before State Pension age.

How can you fill or prevent gaps?

• Credits first. Check whether you qualify for National Insurance credits, which cost nothing. Some are automatic; others must be claimed.
• Voluntary contributions. Gaps from the past six tax years can usually be filled with voluntary Class 3 contributions, or Class 2 if you are self employed with low profits.
• Keep working. Years worked and paid for up to State Pension age count. After State Pension age you stop paying National Insurance.
• Deferring. Your pension rises by just under 5.8% for each year you delay claiming, provided you defer for at least 9 weeks.

The full rate itself rises each April by the highest of earnings growth, CPI price growth or 2.5%. The State Pension is taxable, which is covered in how the State Pension is taxed.

What mistakes do people make with their record?

• Counting years in work rather than qualifying years, and missing years with low earnings, two small jobs or time abroad.
• Assuming 35 years always means the full rate, when contracting out can mean more are needed.
• Paying voluntary contributions for years that will not raise the forecast.
• Not claiming Child Benefit because of the High Income Child Benefit Charge and losing the credits that come with it.
• Leaving checks until close to State Pension age, when the six year window for older gaps has closed.

If HMRC opens a check into your return, tax investigation insurance pays your accountant’s fees. Solar Protect cover pays up to £100,000 with no excess; it never pays tax, interest or penalties. Read how our cover works or get a quote.

Related Accountapedia entries

• Contracted out years and your State Pension
• National Insurance classes explained
• Voluntary Class 2 contributions
• Home Responsibilities Protection and missing years
• Claiming child benefit just for the NI credits
• Do you pay National Insurance on pension income

See also: CA5603: paying voluntary Class 3 National Insurance.

Sources

• GOV.UK: New state pension
• GOV.UK: What youll get
• legislation.gov.uk: Act 2014 c. 19, section 2
• legislation.gov.uk: Act 2014 c. 19, section 4
• legislation.gov.uk: Act 1992 c. 4, section 122
• GOV.UK: Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027
• GOV.UK: Your state pension explained
• GOV.UK: How contracting out affects your amount
• GOV.UK: Check if you were contracted out
• GOV.UK: Increase retirement income

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.