Money expert Martin Lewis is urging people born between 1951 and 2006 to make two state pension checks now.
The money mastermind is once again banging the drum on state pension payouts based on National Insurance records because an important deadline is looming which could affect how much you get when you retire.
In April, the deadline to buy back missing National Insurance years which could boost your pension by up to £6,100 per year is set to pass and some people could lose out on up to £79,000 they could have added to their pension pot.
Martin said: “To get the full new state pension you need 35 ish National Insurance years.
“That is a capital ISH. It varies widely. If you’ve got 35 years that does not mean you get the full state pension it depends on a lot of different criterias.
Martin Lewis explained that when the new state pension was brought in, transitional arrangements were put in place allowing people to buy back missing years in your National Insurance record.
But because there was such a rush to do so, the deadline was extended twice, and now the final deadline is April 2025.
“I have just found out while the new online system will work for many, they had said it would work for all, I have now found out it will not work for all. It will not work for people whose years are missing because they worked abroad, it will not work for people whose years are missing because they’re self employed, and a whole variety of other categories.
“Because we’re going to still be relying on that phone capacity for a lot of people, that’s what I am saying, do it now, don’t put yourself at risk, don’t put yourself in that queueing system. If you can’t get through the phone lines and they decide they’re not going to extend it again, you miss out on this.
“Absolutely everybody I would say between the age of 40 and 73 should be checking whether it is right for them and you should be doing it now.
“There are two checks everybody should make.
“Check one: are you missing any National Insurance years since 2006. To do that you go onto gov.uk you use your government gateway account and you put a search in the government’s website: check your past National Insurance record.
“It will tell you if you have a full year or you do not have a full year. If you are one week short of contributions, it is a zero year, not a full year. It is binary.”
“I’d say anybody between 18 and 73 should be making the checks. In the main this is about 40 to 73 but why not have a check? It’s good education just so you understand how the system works if nothing else.
“The second check you need to make in this is you then need to see whether you’re on track to get the full state pension, search for your state pension forecast.”
