Taxpayers will have more time to boost their pensions by £10,000s after a two year extension was approved by the Government.
Extending the voluntary National Insurance contributions deadline until 2025 means that people have more time to properly consider whether paying voluntary contributions is right for them and ensures no-one need miss out on the possibility of boosting their State Pension entitlements.
The original deadline was extended to 31 July 2023 earlier this year, and tens of thousands of people have taken advantage to pay voluntary contributions to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) since then. The revised deadline is expected to enable tens of thousands more to do the same.
Victoria Atkins, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said: “People who have worked hard all their lives deserve to receive their State Pension entitlement, and filling gaps in National Insurance records can make a real difference.
“With the deadline extended, there is no immediate rush for people to complete gaps in their record and they will have more time to spread the cost.”
Laura Trott, Minister for Pensions, Department for Work and Pensions, said: “I am pleased to see so many people taking steps to review their State Pension, which is why we have extended the deadline for customers to add extra years to their National Insurance record.
“This extension means thousands more people will have time to check their entitlement, and in many cases, increase the amount they receive when they retire.”
Martin Lewis was due to address the issue on the return of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV this week.
Important: The deadline for buying missing National Insurance years for your state pension back to 2006 has just been extended again to April 2025 (was July 23)
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) June 12, 2023
I suspect it isn't a coincidence that this announement comes the day before my @itvMlshow special on it, with the…
The Money Saving Expert has previously issued warnings to everyone aged between 45 and 70 about the impending deadline.
Reacting to the extension, he tweeted: "I suspect it isn't a coincidence that this announcement comes the day before my special on it, with the pensions minister coming on, knowing I was going to go hard about people having to call the Future Pensions Service 100s times before they get an answer.
“Overall though the extension is very good news.”
Explaining the process previously on the Martin Lewis podcast, the Money Saving Expert said: “We need to spread the word on this. On April 6 2016 that was the day they introduced the new state pension.
"For those who hit pension age since then, you have been put on the new state pension.
“As part of that, transitional arrangements were put in place. Those transitional arrangements are set to end.
Tomorrow @itvMLshow's back 8pm to start a (2-part) mini-series. The big subject, should you pay to buy back missing National Insurance years to boost your state pension (spoiler, for many yes, it can be worth £10,000s). Plus should you fix energy.
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) June 12, 2023
Got questions on those, just…
"This is all about your National Insurance years. The amount that you get in your state pension is about the number of qualifying years that you have.
"You can acquire years by working. Minimum wage, and you will get National Insurance credits, or if you're not working there are other ways you can get NI credits for example if you are raising children or have a disability.
"Now to get the full state pension when you retire, on the new state pension, you will need 35 years ish.
“Some of you when you get to retirement will be missing years - it might be you were on a low income or working abroad.
"Anybody listening right now, do this. If you are not yet at state retirement age, go to gov.uk and look up your state pension summary.
"That will tell you when you will get your pension and it will give you a forecast of how much you are likely to get."
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