Mike qualified as a financial adviser in 2002 and helps with guidance on tax, pensions and investments.
I have 34 years of National Insurance contributions and am due to reach state pension age in March, just before the end of the tax year.
I’m aware that I need 35 years of national insurance contributions to qualify for the full state pension, but I have discovered that my contributions for this financial year (2025-26) won’t count. Is this true?
A Which? Money member
Mike Croxford, Which? money expert, says…
Unfortunately, this is correct. As you note, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) requires 35 years of national insurance contributions to qualify for the full state pension.
Readers should also be aware that you need to pay contributions until you reach state pension age.
You had to contact DWP several times, and in a letter it explained ‘a person’s working life for State Pension purposes starts on 6 April before their 16th birthday and ends on 5 April before they reach State Pension age’.
This means you would’ve needed 35 years’ contributions by April 2025 to be eligible.
A person’s working life for State Pension purposes ends on 5 April before they reach State Pension age
Your birthday is in March and you’re employed full time, so you’ve still had to pay National Insurance for 11 months until you hit state pension age, but can’t accumulate a final qualifying year.
It’s an unfair loophole, but one that means you’ll need buy an additional year of voluntary class 3 contributions at £17.75 a week to get the maximum state pension.
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