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State pension top-up calculator
Buying missing National Insurance years is one of the best deals in UK personal finance, when it works. See what it costs at 2026/27 Class 3 rates, what it adds, and how fast it pays for itself.
Without a forecast we assume you are exactly the bought years short of the full £241.30/week. Before paying anything, get your real number from gov.uk/check-state-pension — it shows which years are missing and what each one costs you.
Cost to buy 3 years at Class 3
£2,870
£18.40/week × 52 weeks per year bought
You have 15 years left before state pension age, enough to close this gap by working or claiming NI credits instead of paying. Voluntary contributions make most sense for past years you can no longer fill any other way.
- Extra pension gained£1,076/year
- Weekly forecast£220.62 → £241.30
- Payback after state pension age2.7 years
Cumulative gain, net of cost (nominal)
- By age 80 (13 years of pension)+£11,111
- By age 85 (18 years of pension)+£16,489
- By age 90 (23 years of pension)+£21,866
Assumes state pension age 67 and no uprating; the triple lock means the real numbers should be better. Pension income is taxable, which stretches the payback if you pay income tax in retirement.
Building the rest of your retirement income? See the pension contributions calculator.
Check your official forecast before paying anything. This tool shows guidance, not advice, and it assumes the simple post-2016 rules where every year adds 1/35 of the full rate. Real records, especially contracted-out ones, are messier. Your personal forecast at gov.uk/check-state-pension shows exactly which years are missing, what each costs, and whether filling them would actually raise your pension.
Common questions
- Who should not top up their state pension?
- Anyone who has not checked their official forecast first. If you were contracted out of SERPS or the second state pension (common in public sector and older company schemes before 2016), your record is more complicated and extra years may add less than 1/35 each, or nothing at all. The same goes if you can still reach 35 years by working or claiming free NI credits (child benefit, carer's credit, certain benefits) before state pension age. Check gov.uk/check-state-pension, then call the Future Pension Centre to confirm which specific years would actually increase your pension before paying a penny.
- What is the difference between Class 2 and Class 3 contributions?
- Class 3 is the standard voluntary rate: £18.40 a week in 2026/27, about £957 for a full year. Class 2 is for the self-employed and costs £3.65 a week, about £190 a year, for exactly the same qualifying year. If you were self-employed (or working abroad and meet the conditions) in the gap years, paying voluntary Class 2 instead of Class 3 cuts the cost of each year by roughly 80%, which makes the payback almost instant.
- Does the extra pension rise with inflation?
- Yes. The state pension is currently uprated by the triple lock: the highest of earnings growth, CPI inflation or 2.5% each April. The 2026/27 rise was 4.8%. This calculator deliberately keeps everything in today's money with no uprating, so the payback period and lifetime gains shown are conservative; in practice each year you buy should grow in value through retirement.
- How do I actually pay for missing years?
- Start at gov.uk/check-state-pension to see your gaps and confirm which years would increase your pension. Then use the 'Check your State Pension forecast' service or call the Future Pension Centre (if you are below state pension age) to confirm the years are worth buying, get an 18-digit payment reference from HMRC, and pay online, by bank transfer or by cheque. Do not skip the confirmation step: HMRC will happily take payment for years that do not increase your pension.
- What is the deadline for filling gaps?
- You can usually only pay voluntary contributions for the past 6 tax years, and the deadline is 5 April each year. The special extension that allowed filling gaps all the way back to 2006 closed on 5 April 2025, so the rolling 6-year window is now the rule. If a cheap-to-fill year is about to drop out of the window, that is the one to prioritise.
The state pension is the floor, not the plan. The pension contributions calculator shows what tax relief turns your own saving into, and the pension drawdown calculator shows how long a pot lasts on top of it.