Can child benefit really improve your state pension position?

Despite what you might think, no one automatically gets the full amount of State Pension when they retire. You’ll only get the full amount if you’ve paid, or been credited with, National Insurance contributions for 35 years. The key word here is ‘credited’. Even if you’re not working while looking after your baby, you’ll get National Insurance credits when you claim Child Benefit until your youngest child is 12. The credits are automatically added to your National Insurance account when you claim Child Benefit, so you don’t need to do anything. Therefore if your spouse earns more than £60000 and you are not currently claiming child benefit you are missing out on your “credited” national insurance contribution. The advice would be to elect to receive the child benefit (even if your spouse has to pay it all back through the child benefit tax charge) to ensure you are being credited  with the correct NI contribution to maximize your state pension for when you retire.