Pensions
The State Pension gaps you can still fill — and the ones now closed
HMRC says almost 7 million adults have never checked their forecast, and voluntary contributions now reach back only six years, not to 2006.
£956.80 One full voluntary year, 2026/27
Almost 7 million UK adults have never checked their State Pension forecast, HMRC said on 14 September. That is one in eight, from a survey of 5,206 people run between 27 February and 12 March 2026. The group most likely never to have checked is 45 to 54-year-olds — closer to State Pension age than most, and with less time left to act on what they would find.
Pension Awareness Week runs from 15 to 18 September, so the checking will get plenty of coverage. The decision afterwards will not. And that decision has narrowed: you can now only pay voluntary contributions for the past 6 years, and anything older than that is closed for good.
What the forecast is telling you
Two numbers matter. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week, and you need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance to get all of it if your record started after April 2016. Fewer years, less money.
The forecast shows how much you could get, when you can get it, and whether you can increase it — “for example, by paying to fill gaps”. That last part is the one people skim.
A window shut last year
For nearly two years there was a wider offer. Men born after 5 April 1951 and women born after 5 April 1953 could fill gaps going back to April 2006, and pay at 2022 to 2023 rates. That ended on 5 April 2025.
The rule now is the ordinary one. GOV.UK puts it in a single line: “You can only pay voluntary contributions for the past 6 years.” The deadline is 5 April each year — gaps in the 2025 to 2026 tax year can be filled until 5 April 2032 — so each April another year drops out of reach. Anyone who remembers reading that they could fill twenty years of gaps is remembering a rule that no longer exists.
What a year costs, and what it buys
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| One full voluntary year, Class 3, 2026/27 | £956.80 (£18.40 a week) |
| Full new State Pension | £241.30 a week |
| Roughly what one extra qualifying year adds | £6.89 a week, about £358 a year |
The third line is £241.30 divided by 35. It is our arithmetic rather than a published figure, and it only holds if that year genuinely lifts your total. Note that older gaps cost today’s money: only the previous two tax years are charged at their own rate, and anything earlier is charged at the 2026 to 2027 rate. The self-employed may be able to pay Class 2 instead, at £3.65 a week.
Three branches
Pay. £956.80 now, for something in the region of £358 a year for as long as you live.
Leave it. Costs nothing. And it costs nothing at all if you will reach 35 years anyway by working to your pension age — in which case the £956.80 would have bought you nothing whatsoever.
Claim a credit instead. Years registered for Child Benefit for a child under 12 — even if you do not take the money — or spent caring for someone at least 20 hours a week may already be covered by National Insurance credits. Some credits are automatic; others you have to apply for. Buying a year that a credit would have filled for free is the worst of the three outcomes.
What the answer turns on
- Whether you will reach 35 qualifying years by working to pension age. Read your forecast to the end.
- Whether a gap year qualifies for a credit rather than a purchase. You have to check the rules for that particular year.
- Whether you were contracted out before April 2016. GOV.UK says you will then “usually need more than 35 qualifying years” — so your number may not be 35.
Until all three are settled, buying a year is a guess with a £956.80 price on it.
If you are working and earning enough, this year’s National Insurance is already building a qualifying year. Our NHS pay calculator shows what is coming off your pay for it.
Where these figures come from
- Almost 7 million adults in the dark about their State Pension — GOV.UK (HMRC)
- Voluntary National Insurance: rates — GOV.UK
- Voluntary National Insurance: deadlines — GOV.UK
- The new State Pension: what you'll get — GOV.UK
- Check your State Pension forecast — GOV.UK
Every figure traces to a dated document — the line this section is named after. If one here is wrong, tell us and it gets fixed publicly. Work out your own figures.