HMRC's own research, published to mark Pension Awareness Week, says almost seven million UK adults have never checked their State Pension forecast, and the age group least likely to have looked is 45 to 54. Company directors who pay themselves a small salary often assume that salary is building their State Pension. For many of them it is not, because of a recent change in the National Insurance thresholds.
What HMRC found
The survey behind this release found one in eight UK adults (12.5%) have never checked their State Pension forecast at all, and almost a third have checked it using the HMRC app or the online service, giving them a clear picture of what to expect in retirement. The reasons people gave for not checking: 26% said retirement still feels too far away, 24% worried about losing track of pension pots from old jobs, 20% weren't sure how a career break might affect their entitlement, 9.5% said they simply don't know how to check, 5% thought it would be too complicated, and 17% said they only think about pensions at big financial moments such as the start of a new tax year. Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC's Chief Customer Officer, said: "It's never too early, or too late, to check your State Pension forecast. Checking your forecast on the HMRC app takes just a few minutes but can make a real difference to how prepared you feel for the future." The app also shows gaps in your National Insurance record and lets you top up where a gap exists.
Director salaries and qualifying years
Every year of your State Pension entitlement depends on having a "qualifying year" on your National Insurance record — a year in which your earnings reached at least 52 times the weekly Lower Earnings Limit (LEL). For 2026/27 that LEL is £129 a week, £6,708 a year. Reach that and HMRC treats you as having paid National Insurance for the whole year, even on the part of your earnings below the Primary Threshold where you pay none. If you fall short, even by a small margin, the year does not count towards your pension.
For years this made little difference to small company directors, because the Secondary Threshold — the point at which an employer starts paying employer's National Insurance — sat close to or above the LEL. Paying a salary at the old "NI-free" level and clearing the LEL were roughly the same decision. For 2026/27, the Secondary Threshold is £5,000 a year, over £1,700 below the LEL. A director paying themselves the old textbook "no NI at all" salary of £5,000 now does not earn a qualifying year, unless the payroll has been reviewed since the thresholds moved apart.
Worked example: three director salaries
Take an illustrative sole-director limited company for 2026/27, comparing three salary levels a director might genuinely be paying themselves this year:
| Sole-director salary, 2026/27 | £5,000 | £6,708 (LEL) | £12,570 (PT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee NI due | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Employer NI due (15% above £5,000) | £0 | £256.20 | £1,135.50 |
| Counts as a qualifying year? | No | Yes | Yes |
The Employment Allowance, which can wipe out up to £10,500 of employer National Insurance a year, does not apply to the middle or right-hand column for most one-person companies: a company whose sole director is its only employee above the Secondary Threshold cannot claim it — one of the most common payroll mistakes on a first hire. For those companies, the employer NI in the table is a real cost. Salary and employer NI are both deductible against corporation tax, currently 19% on profits up to £50,000 and 25% above £250,000, which reduces the cost of the higher salary.
Directors, the self-employed and employees
If you're a director on a salary set some years ago and haven't reviewed it since, check it against £6,708, the LEL. A salary below the LEL costs nothing in National Insurance and does not earn a qualifying year. Your forecast in the HMRC app shows whether this year and recent years counted.
If you're self-employed, the equivalent mechanism is different: you build a qualifying year through Class 2 National Insurance once profits reach the Small Profits Threshold, currently £7,105, or by paying it voluntarily below that. Check your own forecast too: self-employed profits vary, and a low-profit year can leave a gap in your qualifying years. Our Self Assessment service can check your record with you.
If you're an employee on PAYE earning comfortably above the LEL as a matter of course, this gap mostly does not apply to you. HMRC found that a third of 45 to 54 year olds have never checked their forecast.
What to do this week
Check your own forecast. The Check your State Pension forecast service on gov.uk, or the HMRC app, shows your forecast, your full National Insurance record year by year, and any gaps — for free, in a few minutes.
If you're a director, check this year's salary against £6,708. Thresholds can change every April, and a salary set at the old NI-free level now sits below the LEL.
If you find a gap, check before paying to fill it. Voluntary Class 3 contributions cost £18.40 a week for 2026/27 — £956.80 to buy back a full year — and you can normally pay for gaps going back six tax years. Whether that's worth paying depends on how many qualifying years you already have and how many working years are still ahead of you.
What's still uncertain
HMRC's release doesn't say how it will measure whether this campaign moves the "never checked" figure, or when it will next report on it — Pension Awareness Week is an annual fixture, so the next figures will probably come next September. The thresholds above are settled: the LEL, Primary Threshold and Secondary Threshold are fixed for the whole of the 2026/27 tax year, so a salary review done now holds until next April regardless of what the Autumn Budget changes elsewhere.
When we set director salaries as part of payroll, we check both the National Insurance cost and whether the salary earns a qualifying year. If you're not sure whether yours clears the Lower Earnings Limit, our Payroll & Pensions service checks it, and if it does not, our salary and dividend planning can set a new level.