Glossary · UK
What is National Insurance Credits?
Credits automatically or voluntarily added to a National Insurance record in place of paid contributions, protecting entitlement to the State Pension and certain benefits during periods of low or no earnings.
Full Definition
National Insurance credits are entries added to a person's National Insurance record that count towards State Pension qualifying years and certain contributory benefits, without the person actually having paid National Insurance contributions for that period. Credits exist to protect people's pension and benefit entitlement during periods when they are not earning enough to pay NI, or are not earning at all, for reasons the state recognises as valid, such as claiming Universal Credit or Jobseeker's Allowance while looking for work, receiving Statutory Sick Pay or Employment and Support Allowance, being a full-time carer receiving Carer's Allowance or Carer's Credit, being on approved training courses, doing jury service, or being the partner of someone in the armed forces posted overseas. Parents and carers of children under 12 who claim Child Benefit automatically receive Class 3 NI credits, which is one of the reasons it is often worth claiming Child Benefit (even opting out of the payments themselves if the High Income Child Benefit Charge would claw it all back) purely to protect the credits. Where a credit is not applied automatically, for example a grandparent providing childcare while the parent works, it may be possible to apply for Specified Adult Childcare credits to transfer the NI credit from the working parent to the caring relative. Checking a State Pension forecast (available via gov.uk) will show any gaps and confirm whether missing years should instead be filled with voluntary Class 3 contributions.