National Insurance???

my mum metioned to me the other day that i need to sort out gettin my national insurance stamps paid by the government with me not working - if not then it will go against me and not only will i be paying more tax when i go for get a job, but i wont be entitled to the pension amount as i would of missed out!

i wasnt sure what she was on about and iv been out of work for over a yr now - and i have no intention of returning until ethan is in school (or if we struggle for cash). does anybody know what she means and how i have to go about sorting this out?

I got sent a letter after I had been on income support and returned to work saying I should pay £180 to top up my contributions after not working for 12mths, I also have until 2010 to do it (they gave me nearly 6 years to pay it off) Thanks for reminding me, I will have to do it

I'm not entirely sure how, but I know you can get it paid for you as my friend has just sorted this out herself as she's not going back to work and her maternity has just finished. I think she rang the job centre...

so what do i do? i just phone the job centre?

another thing is i dont claim anything - should i be claiming job seekers or dole or something as im not working? or is that only for so many months and if im going to return to work within so many months?

My friend can't claim for anything because she's married or something...I will get her to answer the thread lol. As far as I know she just rang the job centre to ask what she could claim and they told her she could just have her stamp paid.