Originally Posted by Editha (Post 11918805)

The link works for me, so I'm not sure how it isn't working for you.

The url is:https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension. Type it in the address line if necessary.

The OP and spouse have already claimed their state pensions, so my guess is that they made enough contributions before they emigrated, to get a partial pension when they retired.

I'm not knowledgeable on voluntary NI contributions. Hopefully someone will be along to give you more detailed advice. But, I do know you can pay back payments of 6 years. Since you have another five years to go to retirement age, that makes eleven years that you could accumulate before retirement, added to any you paid before you left the UK.

A full pension now requires 35 years contributions, but you might get as much as 50% of that.

However, the new pension rules, and the transitional arrangements do complicate things.

Originally Posted by Editha (Post 11918815)

You can't work it out from just looking at the website. You do need to apply for a pension forecast. It doesn't cost anything to do so, and then you will have the information you need to make a decision.