How to check your UK State Pension forecast (and fill the gaps)

The UK State Pension is one of the few parts of personal finance where a few minutes of admin can move tens of thousands of pounds over a retirement. The official forecast tool is free, takes 5 minutes to access, and tells you exactly where you stand — and it’s used by an embarrassingly small fraction of working-age adults.

This is a walk-through of how to check yours, what the numbers mean, and the decisions that flow from them.

How to check your forecast

The forecast lives on gov.uk:

Check your State Pension forecast →

You’ll need:

• A Government Gateway user ID (or you’ll be invited to create one).
• A National Insurance number (on payslips, P60, NI letters).
• A way to verify your identity — usually a UK passport or driving licence plus a few personal questions.

The forecast tells you three things:

1. What you’ll get if you continue contributing as you are until State Pension age.
2. The maximum you could get if you contributed every remaining year possible.
3. Your full NI record so far — every year, marked as “qualifying” or not, with the gap (if any) explained.

What the new State Pension is worth

The full new State Pension (for people reaching State Pension age after 6 April 2016) requires 35 qualifying years of NI contributions or credits.

For 2026/27, the full new State Pension is £241.30 per week — about £12,548 per year. The figure rose 4.8% from £230.25/week in 2025/26 under the triple-lock uprating (highest of CPI inflation, earnings growth, or 2.5%). Check the DWP’s current rates page for any subsequent changes.

A few mechanics:

• Each year is worth roughly 1/35 of the full pension. Currently about £6.50 per week (£340 per year) for each year contributed.
• Less than 10 years in total = no State Pension at all. Above 35 = full pension; you can’t earn more by working longer.
• Years can be qualifying through contributions or credits. Paying NI through PAYE gives credits automatically. Claiming child benefit, being a carer, or claiming certain benefits can also give credits — sometimes without realising.

What counts as a qualifying year

A tax year counts as “qualifying” if any of the following applies:

• You paid Class 1 NI (as an employee) on earnings above the lower earnings limit (currently £6,396).
• You paid Class 2 NI (as self-employed — though Class 2 became voluntary in April 2024).
• You earned credits through claiming child benefit (parents of children under 12), being a carer, or claiming certain benefits.
• You paid voluntary Class 3 NI to fill a gap.

The threshold matters: in years where you earned below the lower earnings limit (or were out of work and not claiming benefits that grant credits), the year doesn’t qualify automatically. The forecast tool flags these as gaps.

Filling gaps — when it’s worth it

If your forecast shows you won’t reach 35 qualifying years by State Pension age, paying voluntary contributions to fill historic gaps can boost the pension.

The cost (2026/27):

• Class 3 voluntary contributions are about £17.45 per week, or roughly £907 for a full missing year.
• Each year of contributions adds approximately £340 per year to the State Pension (1/35 of the current full pension).
• Payback period: under three years of retirement. From age 67 onwards, the State Pension lasts until death — for someone living to 87, that’s 20 years of payments for one year of contribution. The return on investment is unmatched by any normal financial product.

There’s a deadline: you can normally only buy back NI contributions for the last six tax years. A special extended window currently allows people to buy back further (until April 2025), but this is being tightened — check the current rules on gov.uk.

When buying back doesn’t help

A few cases where filling gaps isn’t worth it:

• You’re already on track for 35 qualifying years. The pension is capped at the full amount — extra years don’t increase it.
• You’ll qualify naturally before State Pension age. If you have 20 qualifying years and 20 years to go before retirement, you’ll hit 35 by working alone — no need to pay voluntarily.
• You expect to die before recovering the cost. Rare and morbid, but for someone in poor health near retirement age, the maths can shift.
• The gap is from very early years. Filling a gap from 2008/09 has the same effect as filling a gap from 2023/24 — but if you’re uncertain whether you’ll have a long career, recent years might be filled by natural employment instead.

Before paying, call the Future Pension Centre on 0800 731 0175. The forecast tool sometimes overstates or understates the impact of filling a specific year, particularly for those who were contracted out of the second State Pension before 2016. The Future Pension Centre confirms whether a specific year will actually increase your forecast.

Credits you might already qualify for

A few credit types worth knowing — these can give you qualifying years without paying anything:

• Child Benefit credits (for parents of children under 12). Even if you don’t need to claim the benefit because of the High Income Child Benefit Charge, register for it just to get the credits — there’s an option on the claim form to claim “NI credits only”.
• Carer’s credit if you care for someone for at least 20 hours a week.
• Statutory sick pay, maternity pay, paternity pay — automatic credits.
• Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance — automatic credits.
• Universal Credit — automatic credits where applicable.

These are often missed by stay-at-home parents who didn’t claim Child Benefit because of the £50k+ household-income clawback. The fix is to claim it but tick the “don’t pay me, just give me the credits” option.

The pension forecast and your retirement planning

The State Pension forecast is one input into total retirement income. The other main components for most people:

• Workplace pension — accumulated over a career, possibly across multiple employers.
• SIPP — if opened.
• Other savings and investments — ISA, GIA.
• Equity in property — if downsizing or releasing equity.

The State Pension is rarely the largest component for a working professional, but it’s the most reliable — guaranteed by the government, uprated against inflation under the triple lock, paid until death. Knowing exactly where it sits in your forecast lets you plan the rest more confidently.

A reasonable annual routine

Once a year — same week each year, easy to remember:

1. Log into the State Pension forecast tool.
2. Confirm the most recent year shows as “Year is full” or “Year is not full”.
3. Check whether any earlier years have shifted from “qualifying” — they shouldn’t, but errors do occur.
4. If gaps exist and you’re under 6 years out from State Pension age, consider voluntary contributions — call the Future Pension Centre first.
5. Note the projected weekly amount somewhere in your financial records.

Five minutes a year. Few admin tasks have a higher long-term payoff.

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Last updated 22 May 2026. This guide is educational and is not personal financial advice. State Pension rules can change — confirm with gov.uk and the Future Pension Centre before acting on a specific decision to pay voluntary contributions. See our disclaimer.