The State Pension and Gaps in Your National Insurance Record

The Accounted Tax Team·4 March 2026·7 min read

The State Pension is the foundation of retirement income for millions of people in the UK. It's not going to fund a luxury lifestyle — at £221.20 per week for the full new State Pension in 2025/26, it works out to about £11,500 a year — but it's guaranteed, inflation-linked income for life. And for sole traders who might not have a workplace pension behind them, it matters enormously.

But here's the thing many self-employed people don't realise: your State Pension isn't automatic. It depends on your National Insurance record, and if there are gaps in that record, you could receive significantly less than the full amount. The good news is that gaps can often be filled — sometimes very cheaply — if you know what to look for.

How the State Pension Works

The new State Pension (which applies to anyone reaching State Pension age from 6 April 2016 onwards) is built on a simple principle: you need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions to receive the full amount. You need a minimum of 10 qualifying years to get anything at all.

Each qualifying year you accumulate adds roughly 1/35th to your State Pension entitlement. So if you have 30 qualifying years, you'd receive 30/35ths of the full amount — approximately £189.60 per week, or about £9,860 per year.

That's a meaningful reduction. Over a 20-year retirement, the difference between 30 qualifying years and 35 is roughly £32,800 in total pension income. For the sake of what could be a few hundred pounds in voluntary contributions, that's a gap well worth filling.

How Do Gaps Happen?

Gaps in your National Insurance record are more common than you might think, especially among self-employed people. Here are the most frequent causes:

Low earnings

If you're self-employed and your profits fall below the Small Profits Threshold (£6,845 for 2025/26), you don't pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions — and the year might not count as qualifying. This can happen in the early years of a business, during a downturn, or if you work part-time.

Time abroad

If you lived or worked overseas, you probably weren't paying UK National Insurance during that time. Unless you made voluntary contributions while abroad, those years will show as gaps.

Career breaks

Taking time off to raise children, care for a family member, or study can create gaps. Some of these are covered by National Insurance credits (see below), but not all.

Unemployment

If you were unemployed but not claiming benefits, you may not have been building up qualifying years.

Employment with low hours

Part-time employment below the Lower Earnings Limit (£6,396 for 2025/26) doesn't automatically generate qualifying NI contributions.

Simply not knowing

Plenty of self-employed people don't realise that paying National Insurance through their Self Assessment return is what builds their State Pension entitlement. If you've been filing returns but your profits have been low, you might have gaps without knowing it.

National Insurance Credits

Before you worry about gaps, it's worth understanding that some are automatically covered by National Insurance credits. You receive credits if you're:

Claiming Child Benefit for a child under 12
Caring for someone for 20+ hours a week and claiming Carer's Allowance
Receiving Jobseeker's Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance
On an approved training course
Receiving Universal Credit (in certain circumstances)
A foster carer (in certain circumstances)

These credits count as qualifying years, so if you took five years off to raise children and claimed Child Benefit, those five years should already be on your record.

How to Check Your National Insurance Record

This is genuinely one of the most useful things you can do for your financial future, and it takes about ten minutes.

Go to the government website: gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record
Sign in with your Government Gateway or GOV.UK Verify account. If you don't have one, you can set one up.
View your record. It shows each tax year going back to when you started working, and whether it's a full year, a partial year, or a gap.
Check your State Pension forecast at gov.uk/check-state-pension. This tells you how much you're currently on track to receive and when.

When you look at your record, you'll see each year classified as one of the following:

Full year: You paid enough NI or received enough credits. No action needed.
Year is not full: You have some contributions or credits, but not enough for a qualifying year.
No record: No contributions or credits for that year.

Pay particular attention to recent years. If you've been self-employed and your record shows gaps, it likely means your Class 2 NI contributions weren't paid — possibly because your profits were below the threshold.

Filling Gaps with Voluntary Contributions

If you have gaps, you can often fill them by making voluntary National Insurance contributions. There are two types:

Class 2 voluntary contributions

If you were self-employed during the gap year, you can usually pay Class 2 voluntary contributions. For 2025/26, the Class 2 rate is £3.45 per week — that's just £179.40 for a full year.

This is extraordinary value. For less than £180, you buy yourself an additional 1/35th of the State Pension — roughly £6.32 extra per week, or £328.64 per year, for life. If you live for 20 years after reaching State Pension age, that's a return of over £6,500 on a £180 investment. You'd be hard pressed to find a better financial deal anywhere.

Class 3 voluntary contributions

If you weren't self-employed during the gap year (or Class 2 isn't available), you can pay Class 3 contributions instead. The 2025/26 rate is £17.45 per week, or £907.40 for a full year.

This is more expensive than Class 2, but the maths is still compelling. You're paying £907 for an extra £328 per year for life. That pays for itself in under three years.

Time limits

You can normally only fill gaps from the previous six tax years. However, there have been special extensions — notably, HMRC extended the deadline to fill gaps from April 2006 to April 2016. Check the current rules, as these extensions do change.

The key message: don't wait. The longer you leave it, the more years become unfillable.

Is It Always Worth Filling Gaps?

In most cases, yes — but not always. Here are the exceptions:

You already have 35 qualifying years

If your record already shows 35 full years, you'll get the maximum State Pension. Paying for extra years won't increase it further.

You're very far from 10 qualifying years

If you only have two or three qualifying years and are close to State Pension age, you might need to fill a lot of gaps to reach the 10-year minimum. Whether that's worthwhile depends on the cost versus the benefit.

You have transitional protection

If you were building up entitlement under the old State Pension system (pre-2016), your calculation might be different. The transitional rules are complex and worth checking with the Pensions Service.

For most sole traders with some gaps, filling them is almost certainly worth it. The return on investment is exceptional.

Practical Steps to Take Now

Check your record online. Do this today if you haven't already. It takes minutes and could be worth thousands in retirement.
Check your State Pension forecast. Understand what you're currently on track to receive.
Identify any gaps. Note which years are incomplete and whether they're recent enough to fill.
Contact HMRC. Call the National Insurance helpline (0300 200 3500) to find out exactly how much it would cost to fill each gap and which type of contribution applies.
Make voluntary contributions. You can pay by direct debit, bank transfer, or cheque. HMRC will confirm once the payment is processed and your record is updated.
Review annually. Make it a habit to check your record each year when you do your Self Assessment — particularly if your profits fluctuate. Accounted can help you track your income throughout the year, so you'll know well in advance if you're likely to fall below the thresholds.

A Note for Sole Traders

As a sole trader, your Class 2 National Insurance contributions are collected through your Self Assessment tax return. If your profits are above the Small Profits Threshold, you'll pay automatically. If they're below, you may need to opt to pay voluntarily.

This is an important point that Penny — the AI in Accounted — can flag for you at tax return time. If your profits are low in a given year, it's worth paying the voluntary Class 2 contribution (less than £180) to protect your State Pension entitlement.

Don't think of it as a tax — think of it as an investment. Arguably one of the best investments available in the UK.

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