Martin Lewis has advised a 36-year-old woman that her plan to buy voluntary National Insurance (NI) contributions to fill gaps in her record is 'overkill'. The money expert addressed the issue on his BBC podcast after listener Holly asked whether she should pay to cover two missing years to reach 10 qualifying years.
Holly has worked abroad and studied, leaving gaps in her NI record. She questioned if paying now was worthwhile given she is likely to accumulate 35 qualifying years for a full state pension. Lewis advised her to first check her state pension projection on gov.uk to see if she is on track for the full amount.
If she is, Lewis said buying contributions is probably unnecessary, as additional years beyond 35 do not increase the pension. However, he noted an exception: if the years can be bought cheaply, such as part-years costing as little as £15 or £50, it might be worth it as insurance against future changes.
Lewis warned that paying the full cost of around £950 per year is likely not worthwhile at her age. He highlighted risks such as potential means-testing of the state pension in future, which could make extra contributions redundant.
