Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert website has issued an urgent update after a HMRC issue could have cost people as much as £100,000 or more in their state pension. On Saturday at 11.59pm, the deadline passed to buy back up to 13 missing National Insurance years for your state pension record.
The state pension, currently £230 a week for a pensioner who retired after 2016, is not automatically paid at the maximum weekly rate, instead you need to have earned about 35 years of National Insurance records through work or childcare in order to qualify. Those who were missing 13 years of records between 2006 and 2019 could buy them back at the cost of about £800 a year, which would add about £330 per year to your pension payout – but the deadline has now passed.
But, Martin Lewis’ MSE says that a HMRC error on deadline day has meant some people missed out on the chance to add to their state pension unfairly.
It said: “Saturday at 11.59pm was the last chance to start the process to check and fill any missing NI gaps between 2006 and 2018 under transitional arrangements put in place when the new State Pension was introduced in 2016. MSE and its founder Martin Lewis had been urging people aged 40 to 73 to check ahead of the deadline as doing so could boost your current/future State Pension by £1,000s, £10,000s or even £100,000s.”
The problem was that HMRC’s online service went down for those boosting certain years. The government had promised that as long as you had started the process before the April 5 deadline, you would still be allowed to buy years.
But the online service for 2006-07 and 2020-21 was accidentally taken offline a day early, which meant 21,000 people who logged on to plug gaps could not do so, MSE said.
HMRC has said it will contact those affected by the error to make sure they don’t miss out, and that you don’t need to contact DWP or HMRC about the problem.
A HMRC spokesman said: “A HMRC spokesperson said: “We’re sorry that customers were unable to use our online service on Saturday to top up National Insurance contributions for years prior to 2021. We will contact anyone affected directly about the payments they wanted to make to ensure they don’t miss out.”
Figures from HMRC show 83,000 people have collectively topped up more than 200,000 years, since April 2024.
More than half (59%) of the years topped up by customers are from 2017 onwards and the average online top-up payment is £1,765. The largest weekly state pension increase made has been £113.76, equivalent to £118,310 if someone lived for 20 years after making the boost.
Mike Ambery, retirement savings director at Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, said of the potential benefits of filling NI gaps: “The amount you gain will depend on how long after state pension age you live, alongside other factors like any tax you pay after factoring in other sources of income.
“Despite the potential benefits, buying backdated voluntary contributions won’t be right for everyone. It’s very important to consider your own situation, as there could be many reasons why voluntary NI contributions wouldn’t suit your circumstances, for example if you have sufficient time to make up the years without making voluntary contributions.”
