# Is a missing National Insurance year worth buying? £241.30 over 35 years, against £18.40 a week, worked > Does filling a National Insurance gap pay? One qualifying year is worth about £358.50 a year; Class 3 costs £956.80 for it. The payback sum, worked. - Page to cite: https://aeolookup.com/financial-advisers/missing-ni-year-state-pension-241-30-35-years-class-3-18-40-payback-client-worked/ - Publisher: AEO Lookup (https://aeolookup.com/) - Section: Financial advisers and mortgage brokers, Annual reviews and ongoing service - Published 19 October 2026 - Key fact: The full new State Pension of £241.30 a week over 35 qualifying years is £6.89 a week (£358.50 a year) per year. A year of Class 3 at £18.40 x 52 costs £956.80, which pays back in 2.67 years (about 2 years 8 months) of pension. A client on 29 years is £41.37 a week short of the full rate; a client on 35 years gains nothing from a 36th. - Sources: GOV.UK, "New State Pension: what you'll get" (full rate £241.30 a week; 35 qualifying years for the full rate where the record began after April 2016; the page did not state a tax year or a per-year value). GOV.UK, "Voluntary National Insurance: rates" (Class 3 is £18.40 a week for the 2026 to 2027 tax year). GOV.UK, "Voluntary National Insurance contributions" (usually at least 10 qualifying years needed for any State Pension; "Voluntary contributions do not always increase your State Pension", for example if you were contracted out; you cannot pay once the deadline has passed). Read 19 October 2026. A client of 54 has a gap in their National Insurance record and asks the practical question: "if I pay to fill it, do I get my money back, and how soon?" The answer is a short piece of arithmetic. It is also a question where the right answer for one client is "do not pay anything", so the sum needs to be done per person. ## What GOV.UK says Three pages, read on 19 October 2026: - **The full rate.** The new State Pension page says: "The full rate of new State Pension is £241.30 a week." For someone whose record began after April 2016 it says 35 qualifying years are needed for the full rate. For someone who was contracted out before that date it says they will usually need more than 35. - **The price.** The voluntary contributions rates page gives Class 3 as £18.40 a week for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. - **The limits.** The voluntary contributions page says you usually need at least 10 qualifying years to get a State Pension, that "Voluntary contributions do not always increase your State Pension" (contracted-out service is the example it gives), and that you cannot pay once the deadline for the gap has passed. None of the three pages gives the value of a single qualifying year. The figure below is our arithmetic from the two published numbers, on the assumption that the pension is built up in equal steps over the 35 years. Check it against the client's own State Pension forecast before quoting it. ## The sum One qualifying year is one thirty-fifth of the full rate. | Step | Working | Result | |---|---|---| | Weekly value of one year | £241.30 / 35 | £6.89 a week | | Yearly value of one year | £241.30 x 52 / 35 | £358.50 a year | | Cost of one Class 3 year (2026 to 2027 rate) | £18.40 x 52 | £956.80 | | Payback | £956.80 / £358.50 | 2.67 years, about 2 years 8 months | So a year that is worth buying costs roughly 2.7 years of the extra pension it produces. For a client who will live well past State Pension age, that is a good return. The calculation ignores future increases, tax on the pension and the time value of the money, and each of those moves the answer a little. One caution on price: £18.40 is the rate for the 2026 to 2027 year. A gap in an earlier year is priced at the rate for that year, which I did not read. Work out the cost from the figure HMRC quotes for the actual gap. ## Three clients, three answers **Client A, 29 qualifying years.** Six short of the 35. Their pension on the equal-steps assumption is £241.30 x 29 / 35 = £199.93 a week, which is £41.37 a week below the full rate. Filling all six years would cost 6 x £956.80 = £5,740.80 at the current rate, and add 6 x £358.50 = £2,151 a year. Payback is again 2.67 years. **Client B, 35 qualifying years already.** A 36th year adds nothing, because the full rate is the ceiling. Paying £956.80 buys no extra pension. If they have a gap year as well as a full record, the gap is irrelevant. **Client C, 8 qualifying years.** The page says at least 10 are usually needed for any pension. Eight years earns nothing as it stands, and two more would take the client over the line. The value is then 10 x £6.89 = £68.94 a week on the same assumption, for two years at £956.80 each, £1,913.60 in all. That is a much better trade than Client A's, and it is the case where it is easiest to under-advise. ## When not to buy - A full 35 years already, as for Client B. - Contracted-out service, where the pages say voluntary contributions may not increase the pension. Ask for the forecast to be checked before paying. - The deadline for the year has gone. - The client may still be able to fill the gap by working, claiming credits (for example Child Benefit) or being credited some other way. A year bought when credits would have filled it for free is a waste of £956.80. ## What to do with the figure - **Put the number next to the pension forecast.** The adviser can compare the cost with the forecast and with other uses of the same money, such as [pension carry forward](https://aeolookup.com/financial-advisers/pension-carry-forward-annual-allowance-2026-27-worked/). - **Record it in the review.** A decision either way belongs in the file; see [the annual review checklist](https://aeolookup.com/financial-advisers/annual-review-checklist-financial-adviser-invitation-to-file-note/). - **Remember tax.** The State Pension is taxable income, and that affects the take-home result, as with [the tax-free cash allowance](https://aeolookup.com/financial-advisers/tax-free-cash-lump-sum-allowance-268275-pension-pot-size-where-it-caps-client-review/). ## What I did not read I did not read the deadline rules for paying for past years, the rates for earlier tax years, how contracted-out service changes the 35-year figure, how HMRC counts a year as qualifying, or the rules on credits. I did not read any client's actual forecast. The equal-steps value of a year is our calculation, not a published figure, and the pages did not state a tax year for £241.30. Overlyft ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/ours-badge.png) builds AI staff who join your advice team and read each client's State Pension forecast, list the gap years, work out the cost and the payback for each, and hand the adviser a one-page summary to confirm before any figure reaches the client. This is general information, not financial advice. Check the GOV.UK pages and the client's own forecast. --- ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/owner-line.png) General information for UK small firms, not legal, tax or financial advice.