Can you top up your state pension?

Nearly a quarter of people who started claiming the state pension in the 2024/25 tax year didn’t get the full amount, according to new figures obtained by MoneyWeek.

Of the 776,330 people who began getting the new state pension that financial year, 76% (591,530) were entitled to the maximum weekly rate at the time of £221.20, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This suggests around 24% (184,800) qualified for less.

Some 16% (124,860) of the people who started claiming the new state pension in 2024/25 received less than £200 a week. Just over 26,400 received less than £100 a week – equating to around 3% of people who began getting the payment that tax year.

Full figures for the 2025/26 year are not yet available, but the most recent data provided by the DWP via the FOI showed 489,730 people claimed the new state pension between April 2025 and November 2025.

Of this amount, 71% (349,490) received the full new state pension, which was £230.25 per week in 2025/26. This suggests 140,240 (29%) did not.

Sarah Pennells, consumer finance specialist at retirement firm Royal London, said: “We often talk about the full state pension amount, but as these figures show, approximately one in four pensioners claiming last year got less.”

Steve Webb, partner at pension consultants LCP and former pensions minister, added: “There will always be people short of the full rate.

“In some cases this will be because of years when they were paying a lower, contracted out, rate of NI contributions, or because they simply have gaps in their record when they were not working or getting NI credits.”

How to top up your state pension

Your state pension entitlement is based on your NI record.

You need at least 10 qualifying years to receive the minimum new state pension amount, currently £68.90 a week, and 35 to get the full amount, which is £241.30 a week in 2026/27.

The number of qualifying years and the weekly rate is different for people getting the old state pension.

You can get a state pension forecast to see if there are any gaps in your National Insurance (NI) record.

If you’re not receiving the full amount, or want to top up what you’re currently getting, you may be able to fill gaps in your National Insurance record through credits or voluntary contributions.

Claim credits

Before paying for National Insurance contributions (NICs), it’s worth seeing if you’re eligible for free credits first.

You might be eligible for Specific Adult Childcare Credits if you have previously taken on childcare responsibilities.

You can claim these credits both before and after claiming your state pension.

The credits are available to grandparents or other family members who have cared for a child under the age of 12 if the parents are working and receiving Child Benefit.

If the parent makes National Insurance contributions through their work, they will get qualifying years on their National Insurance record. They therefore wouldn’t need the credits from the Child Benefit so can transfer them.

You can apply for the credits if you’ve taken on caring responsibilities since April 2011, were aged 16 and over but under state pension age when you provided care for the child, and were a UK resident.

To apply, you need to fill in a CA9176 form online via gov.uk, then print it and post it to HMRC using the address shown on the form.

Buy missing National Insurance years

If you want to fill gaps in your National Insurance record and can’t claim credits, you could buy Class 3 National Insurance contributions (NICs). You can do this before or after you begin claiming the state pension.

For the 2026/27 tax year, Class 3 contributions cost £18.40 a week, or £956.80 a year.

You can backdate filling in gaps in your NI record by six tax years and the deadline is 5 April each year. For example, if you wanted to make up gaps for the 2025/26 tax year, you would have until 5 April 2032 to do so. The deadline to top up 2020/21 is 5 April 2027.

You can buy Class 3 contributions a number of ways including through the gov.uk state pension forecast tool if you’re below state pension age, through your Personal Tax Account or over the phone. You can find out more via gov.uk.

Some people will have gaps in their NI record because they weren’t working or weren’t earning enough in a given year, however others may have gaps because they were ‘contracted out’ under the old state pension system in place pre-2016.

Those who were contracted out would have seen more of their NI contribution go towards a private pension instead of the state pension.

If being contracted out has left you with a less than full new state pension, you can top it up by filling in missing NI years from the previous six tax years.

Charlene Young, head of technical at investment platform AJ Bell, said: “Although it was abolished in 2016, three quarters of people reaching state pension age between 2016 and 2036 would have been members of contracted out schemes at some point in their working lives, particularly those in a final salary or career average scheme.”

Is it always worth topping up your state pension?

It’s not always worth topping up your state pension.

Topping up can push you over a threshold making you ineligible for benefits, while those not likely to live long won’t get much value out of filling gaps in their NI record.

If you have reached state pension age, you should contact the Pension Service to see whether it makes sense to buy voluntary contributions.

Webb, from LCP, said the main groups of people who should be “careful” about filling missing National Insurance years are “those who think they are at risk of being on benefits in retirement, because a higher pension could simply mean less benefit, and those who sadly have a short life expectancy”.

“For those who reached pension age before 2016 it will be hard to boost their pension because the deadline for voluntary contributions has passed,” he added.

It could be worth speaking to a financial advisor to assess whether increasing your state pension entitlement is worth it.

Separately, you could increase the amount of state pension you get by deferring it, meaning you don’t claim it when you reach state pension age.

What to do if you have a low state pension and are on a low income

If your state pension entitlement is low, you may be able to claim Pension Credit. Hundreds of thousands of pensioners are believed to be eligible but missing out on the benefit.

There are two parts to Pension Credit, but essentially it tops up your income if you’re on a low amount.

The average claim is worth £4,500 a year and entitlement to the benefit also gives you access to a host of other benefits such as Cold Weather Payments and the Warm Home Discount.

You can claim Pension Credit up to four months before reaching state pension age. You can apply any time after reaching state pension age, but your application can only be backdated by three months.