Every year in which you pay National Insurance (NI) above a minimum level counts as a “qualifying year” towards your future state pension.
(There are a few other ways in which you can earn these credits, too – more on that a little later.)
The more of these credits you build up, the more valuable your state pension will be. The maximum amount of qualifying years you can have is 35 – once you’ve achieved this, you may be eligible for a full state pension on retirement.