Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the April 2025 deadline for backdated voluntary National Insurance Contributions, how many requests for callbacks were logged by his Department before 6 April 2025; how many callbacks have so far been made and completed through all stages; how many people have made National Insurance top-ups under this concessionary arrangement; and when he expects the callback process to be complete.

In total, DWP received c528,000 call-back requests from customers ahead of the voluntary National Insurance Contributions (VNICS) deadline of 5 April 2025. The Department has taken a two-stage approach to actioning these requests.

Stage 1 was to gather personal information such as National Insurance numbers and to filter out any duplicate requests. All stage 1 call-backs have been completed.

Stage 2 is the review of any gaps in the customer National Insurance record and to assess the impact this may have on a customer’s State Pension. All Stage 2 call-backs for customers over State Pension age, residing in the UK have been completed, with under 5,000 call-backs outstanding for customers over SP age residing abroad. There are c119,500 under State Pension (GB and abroad) Stage 2 call-back outstanding. We expect all Stage 2 call-backs to be complete by end March 2026.

DWP does not hold data on how many of the customers went on to pay VNICS under this arrangement.

Background:

DWP have prioritised Stage 2 for those over or near to their State Pension age. The Department received 56,262 stage 2 call-back requests for customers over State Pension age and living in Great Britain – all these call-backs have been completed.

In addition, DWP received 23,961 stage 2 call-back requests for customers over State Pension age, living abroad. DWP have cleared 19,184 of these with 4,777 call-backs left to complete. DWP expect to clear this set of call-back requests before the end of December 2025.

All other stage 2 call-back requests are where the customer is under State Pension age. DWP has 119,451 remaining. DWP expect to clear this set of call-back requests before the end of March 2026.