Hey! Are you aged between 45 to 70? If so, it is important you check your National Insurance record by 31.07.23 to see if there are any gaps in your NI contributions. Do this by logging in to your personal tax account. If you don’t already have a personal tax account, follow the link for instructions on how to create one. [STEP BY STEP GUIDE]

If you are 70 or under, you will be eligible for the “new” statement pension introduced on 6 April 2016. The maximum pension you can receive is currently £185.15 a week, but how much you get depends on how many ‘qualifying’ National Insurance (NI) years you have.

Log into your personal tax account and head towards Pensions – “View your State Pension forecast”. Here it will show you how much you will receive per week. If your “pot” is not currently full, when you scroll down you will see how much you will receive if you make no further contributions, then the forecast if you contribute another “X” amount of years before your Pension eligibility date. If your “pot” is currently full, it will only show you how much your state pension will be.

If your forecast does not show the full £185.15 per week, you can go to your National Insurance record to see where the gaps are. You have until 31.07.23 to fill in these gaps by voluntarily paying NI money over to HMRC.

Martin Lewis from Moneysavingexpert has further useful information. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/#self-employed