Along with tax, everyone pays National Insurance (NI) if they earn above £12,570 per year. Unlike tax, the amount of NI that you pay counts towards your State Pension, with the amount of qualifying years dictating how much you can receive when you reach State Pension Age.
You can get a forecast of your expected State Pension payments online, which can be very helpful in helping you budget for your retirement (or just to keep track of your record as you progress through your career!).
To do so, you first need to set up a Government Gateway account, which you can do at the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension
You will need to confirm some personal details using any two of your passport, driving licence, payslips, P60s or completed self-assessment. If you need any assistance with this you can contact HMRC via the webpage, and in our experience their response times for this service are (unusually!) quite speedy.
Once logged in you can have a look at your NI record by clicking on ‘Your NI and State Pension’. From there you will be given the option to ‘View your State Pension summary’. This shows you a projection of the weekly amount you will receive from your State Pension, as well as the date that you will reach State Pension Age.
If there is anything that you are not sure about, or would like further information on, you should contact HMRC on 0300 200 3300. They can discuss your personal record with you and answer any questions that you may have.