Gaps in your NI contribution history can have a very detrimental effect on your state retirement pension rights. Some people may believe they have accumulated enough qualifying years for full entitlement, when in reality there are gaps. These could be due to breaks between employment, insufficient NI being paid due to part time work, and so on. Worse, if you don’t accumulate at least ten qualifying years, you aren’t entitled to anything.

To rectify this, you can fill gaps by making voluntary Class 3 payments. Usually, you can only do this for the past six years. However, it's currently possible to make contributions for years right back to April 2006. This opportunity was due to end on 5 April 2023, but the government extended this to 31 July 2023 in back in March. It has now extended the window to 5 April 2025. If you want to make contributions, they are payable at the Class 3 rate for 2022/23, which was £15.85 per week.